Past, Present, and ?
by Jamieson Zed
Summary: Takes place right after The Summit. As Liam and Renee become involved, a trip into the past influences events in the future. Discontinued.
1. Prologue

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Past, Present, and …?

And before you mention it, yeah, I know, not a very unique title…but it just seemed to fit!

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By: Jamieson

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything…be really nice if I did, but unfortunately this is not the case! I make no money off this…again, would be really nice, but I assure you I don't!

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Rating: I put PG-13 just to be safe…I don't think this will progress any further, but if it does I will change the rating appropriately.

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Author's Notes: This takes place directly after The Summit (literally) and immediately enters AU land after that. I'm going to be alternating between serious parts and light humor, so you've been forewarned!

General spoilers for the series, especially for the first half of season 4.

I'm hoping (and I emphasize 'hoping') to post a new part once every week or two, but between school and training for my 1st Dan black belt (Tae Kwon Do) I won't guarantee it.

Just a heads up, the prologue and first few chapters will most likely end up being back story for the rest of the fic…hopefully (there's that dumb word again!) I'll get through that soon and after that I can jump head-first into the main plot.

Also, this is my first fic in this fandom, and I'm also fairly new to fanfiction. I've written many original stories, but I don't have very much experience with pre-existing characters. If you think I'm getting out of character, just let me know and I'll try to rectify that in future chapters.

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Prologue

"…You'll find out. We all will," Renee stated.

As Renee began walking, Liam caught up and kept pace, putting his arm around her shoulders. Renee in turn put hers around Liam's waist. They walked in silence, allowing Renee to think about the recent events…and the recent revelations Quantum Liam had helped her to arrive at. 

A few minutes later they reached one of the Mothership's portal stations. "You coming?" Renee asked.

Liam sighed. "No, Zo'or wants to see Da'an and I."

Renee winced. "Oh…that can't be good."

"You know it," he replied, raising his eyebrows. "Well, I'll see ya later." With that, he turned to continue down the corridor.

Quickly coming to a decision, Renee called out. "Liam," she said, walking up to him. He turned around expectantly. "I…uh...listen. You have any plans for Thursday night?"

Liam paused, caught off guard. Today was Monday…as far as he knew there was nothing in his schedule that day. Grinning slightly, he answered, "well…I _did _make plans with Odysseus and Polyphemus, but…."

Renee stared at him. "Poly-what?"

Liam looked at her. "Polyphemus? The Cyclops?" She just continued staring; he sighed. "I was just gonna continue on with Homer's Odyssey," he said by way of explanation. He neglected to mention that he was reading it for the third time.

She nodded slightly. "Right…."

He grinned and shook his head. "Never mind. So what's up Thursday?" He watched as she suddenly sobered and looked almost flustered…but it was gone before he could be certain.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go out for dinner or something."

It was now Liam's turn to look flustered, and he wasn't nearly as good as Renee at hiding it. "Uh…yeah, sure," he managed, mentally kicking himself. _Jeez, get a grip! You've wanted this for a while, the least you could do is seem more interested! _He took a breath and smiled. "I'd love to."

Renee grinned. "Great. Greek? Sortiri's?"

Liam thought for a moment. "I don't know…would you mind if I made the reservations?"

Renee raised her eyebrows at that. "Uh, sure, if you want. So, Thursday?"

He nodded. "Sounds good." 

He was about to go on when a Volunteer approached, addressing him. "Major Kincaid sir, Zo'or has ordered you to the bridge. Immediately." 

Liam turned back to Renee. "Duty calls. Talk later?"

Renee nodded. "Bye." With that, she turned and walked back to the portal station.

Liam headed back in his previous direction, followed closely by the Volunteer.


	2. It Begins

Well, I said it was gonna be about a week or so between uploads, but it's the long weekend and I've had some time (although I _was_ supposed to be working on an English essay today….). However, back to school tomorrow…and TKD, so probably not gonna upload again before end of the week, at least. Here's the next part.

See Prologue for disclaimer and related info.

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Chapter 1

Walking down the corridors of the Taelon Mothership, Liam Kincaid was just about to pass the entrance to the bridge when he heard a familiar voice.

"Yes Zo'or," Renee Palmer was saying. "It's only a minor setback."

__

Well, Liam thought to himself,_ this is a pleasant surprise._ Leaning against the wall separating the bridge from the corridor, he listened to the conversation between Renee and the Synod leader. From his position, he could not been seen by either.

"Indeed," Zo'or replied. "See to it that this _setback _does not interfere with the release date."

"Don't worry, my engineers have assured me that we'll be back on schedule by next week." By the tone in her voice, Liam could tell she was trying desperately to hold onto her patience.

"Very well. That will be all, Ms. Palmer." 

At Zo'or's dismissal, he heard Renee walking, footsteps getting louder. Once out in the corridor, she headed in the direction that would lead her to the nearest portal station.

"I didn't know you were going to be here today," Liam called, walking up behind her.

Turning around, Renee's surprised expression turned into a smile. "I could say the same for you." When he caught up to her, they resumed walking down the corridor. "I had a meeting with Zo'or. So, why are you here?"

"Lar'ai wanted to speak with Da'an. They're supposed to have an interview in Singapore a week Monday, and since Lar'ai can't make it, he wanted Da'an to be fully briefed."

"Yeah, I know about that. Lar'ai was working with Doors on a prototype for a new portal, it's able to transport 25-30% more people at one time than the current model. We're hoping it will solve some of the portal congestion at the major terminals. It's being unveiled next week in Singapore for a trial run. I'm going as well."

Liam frowned for a moment. "Seems strange that Da'an would be asked to go, you wouldn't think they'd need a diplomat."

Renee shrugged. "Da'an was the one who suggested the idea, maybe he thought he'd do a good job at explaining the justification of the expense to the world. These portals require more energy and are much more expensive than the current model."

"Maybe," Liam said thoughtfully. "He is good at persuasion. Well, Sandoval took the opportunity to go over security today."

Changing the subject as a thought occurred to her, Renee said, "So if Da'an's attending, I suppose you'll have to go as well…."

Shaking his head and smiling, he looked at her. "I suppose."

"Good," she said smiling. "Because I did not want to have to spend time alone with Da'an, Zo'or, and—"

"Wait, wait, wait. Zo'or?" he said, cutting her off, his smile falling from his face.

Laughing slightly at his expression, she continued. "And Sandoval."

Liam rolled his eyes, muttering, "Great…."

As they came up to the portal, Liam asked, "So, we still on for tonight?"

She smiled at him. "You bet!" Putting on a mock-stern face and poking him in the chest she said, "My place, seven. And don't be late!"

Grinning, feeling slightly impulsive, he grabbed the hand that was on his chest, brought it to his mouth, and kissed it. "Wouldn't dream of it." 

He watched as Renee input the destination co-ordinates and stepped into the portal. A few moments later she was gone. Liam grinned slightly, retracing his steps, and went to find Da'an.

o0o

FBI Agent Ronald Sandoval stared down the corridor where Liam and Renee had just been, not sure what to make of what he saw. He knew that they had become good friends within the last year as Doors International had become more involved with the Taelons, but the scene he had just witnessed suggested there was something more than just _friendship_ in the works.

Sandoval didn't like Major Kincaid. In fact, he detested the man. While Kincaid did have some personality characteristics that in any other situation he would have respected, he found the Major to be rather impulsive and naïve at times. It was strange how Major Kincaid had the hardness of a man who'd seen battle, yet for some reason Sandoval couldn't decipher, he often thought and expressed ideas with the innocence of a child.

Another thing that bothered him, and quite possibly the most, was the fact that Liam Kincaid seemed so damned familiar; every single time he was near the Major, Sandoval felt as if he should know this man. But no matter how hard he tried, Sandoval could not think of any time whatsoever where he had met, or even seen, Kincaid prior to Commander Boone's funeral. And he could not stand to be in the dark about anything, especially his own feelings.

Sandoval had also noticed the strange way in which the Major tended to express emotion. He knew that in comparison to himself it wasn't too surprising, Sandoval's CVI allowed his emotions to be kept behind the veil much more easily. Kincaid did not have a CVI. But some of the emotional outbursts Major Kincaid _had_ exhibited were uncharacteristic for a man his age, just north of 30. It was almost as if he had experienced some of his feelings for the first time and didn't know how to deal with them, except to explode. For instance, Sandoval was reminded of the time he had first met Kincaid and asked him about the men on his team who died during the S.I. war. Of course, it now seemed the Major had learned to control his outbursts to the point where it happened on rare occasions, but it still happened. And to Sandoval, it also appeared strange that Kincaid had only learned to control these outbursts recently. His question was simple: how could Kincaid have made it through the S.I. war without this ability? 

This new…development…with Renee Palmer was something strange indeed. He knew of their good friendship, there was no doubt of that, but something was off. Most, if not all, Companion Protectors had at one time or another come to Sandoval with requests of added security to protect those close to them, usually significant others or close family members. Kincaid had been the exception, never mentioning anyone close to him. In fact, Sandoval was fairly certain that there had never been a woman in the Major's life in the time he had been working for the Taelons; since Kincaid worked nearly as much as himself, he would never have enough time to see anyone. But now it almost seemed as if Major Kincaid and Ms. Palmer had begun a relationship. He wasn't sure quite why this seemed odd to him, they were both fairly young and, as far as he knew, they got along well enough…but for some reason, it seemed strange. 

Shaking his head, trying to dispel his uncharacteristically intuition-based thoughts, he turned and headed for the bridge. 


	3. First Date

Well, here's the next part. I kind of went off on my own merry way with a bit of ancient history, just to warn you.

See Prologue for disclaimer.

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Chapter 2

"Just a minute!" Renee called, walking to the door of her large apartment. Opening the door, she looked into the slightly stunned eyes of Liam.

"Wow," he said laconically. "You look great." Smiling slightly, he took in her dark crimson - almost black - casual, flowing dress. It wasn't too dressy, as per his instructions.

Blushing slightly at the appreciative look in his eyes, she said, "You don't look too bad yourself." _And that's definitely the truth,_ she thought. He was wearing black pants with a light gray V-neck shirt and a black button-down shirt worn open.

Regaining his composure, he asked, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," she said, turning around and grabbing her small black bag from the coffee table. Facing him again, they walked out the door, down the elevator, and, choosing Liam's car since he knew where they were going, pulled out of the parking garage.

It was still light out as they drove down the street. "So, where are we going?" Renee asked.

"Well," Liam began, keeping his eyes on the road, "I figured you'd want to eat, and I wanted to go somewhere nice, so…."

"So?" she prompted.

"So," he said, pulling into a parking lot and shutting off the engine. "You'll just have to see when we get there." Before she could reply, he was out of the car and walking up to the gray building. Renee sat in the car staring after him for a moment before she realized where they were: the Washington, D.C. shuttle garage. Smiling slightly, she shook her head and followed him.

Once they arrived at Liam's shuttle it took only moments to get airborne and into inter-dimensional. Enjoying the companionable silence that descended, they reached their destination after a short while and Liam pulled out of ID space. A few minutes of conventional flight spent enjoying the view of the lush green forest and mountains below and then Liam landed the shuttle in a clearing on the side of one of the mountains.

Turning off the virtual glass shield and taking a look at the sun's position, Liam grinned to himself. "Plenty of time."

Renee walked past him and out of the shuttle, taking in the magnificent view. The mountains spread out into the distance, most covered in the trees of primary rainforest. A light mist hung deep in to the mountain valley below them, creating a suspended layer of nearly opaque clouds. Surrounding their clearing were gigantic trees, only the smallest trunks of which the shuttle's width could compare. "Where are we?"

Liam walked up and stood beside her. Hesitantly, he reached for her hand. She took his and squeezed it, never talking her eyes off the glowing orb in the distance, and all that it lit. "Mountain rainforests of Costa Rica. Thought you might like it."

Hearing them before they saw them, a flock of scarlet macaws entered the picture, transfixing the two. Watching the birds as they made their way across the valley en masse, Renee answered, "Love it." She was aware of nothing else until she felt Liam let go her hand and walk back to the shuttle. "Where are you going?" she asked, turning around.

Liam walked in to the shuttle and headed towards the back storage compartment, pulling out two bags and a large blanket. As he walked back, Renee noticed on the bags the logo of a Greek restaurant in Washington. At her amused expression he explained, "Decided to take your suggestion."

Renee took the blanket from him and spread it beside the shuttle, facing the edge of the cliff and the sun, now slightly lower in the horizon, although it would still be awhile before it set. She sat against the side of the shuttle while Liam sat on an angle so he could both look at her and take in the view. Unwrapping the food, they began to eat.

At first there was a semi-awkward silence, which Renee broached by discussing some new information regarding a secret Taelon project who's front was the Sunrise Children's Orphanage. They believed that it's true function was to steer some of the older children between the ages of 10 and 16 towards illegal volunteer training programs; illegal since, by US law, these children weren't old enough to enlist in any type of military, Taelon or otherwise. Although neither of them mentioned it they were both thinking it: these kids, because of their ages, were the ones least likely to find homes before they turned 16, making them perfect candidates for this project. 

It wasn't the best date topic, Renee knew, but she also knew that Liam was new to all this and she didn't want to push him. She would only go towards more informal topics if he brought them up.

Liam knew what Renee was doing, and why, and though he was slightly embarrassed because of it, he was glad Renee realized he wasn't as at ease as he hoped he was portraying. It's not that he hadn't been in a date-like scenario before, he had, a few times. But those times he didn't really classify as dates since he had just met the other person, usually at the Flat Planet. They'd share a drink or two, talk about themselves (at which point he'd usually have to lie a bit), say goodbye, and never see each other again. It was different with Renee though. This had been planned…or, more correctly, he had planned this, they were alone instead of in a crowded club, and they were good friends who knew each other fairly well. Most of all, Renee was someone Liam cared a great deal for. He just hoped he'd calm down soon enough; he doubted she'd enjoy talking about Resistance matters for too much longer.

They finished their food just as the sun was beginning to set. "Well, I hope you're not too full," Liam began, reaching into the bag she had previously thought was empty. He pulled out a small white container and turned back to her, grinning. "Because I have baklava."

Renee grinned like a child, saying, "Gimme." He took out one of the diamond-shaped pastries and handed it to her on a napkin. She took the proffered dessert and bit in, savoring.

While her mind was elsewhere he mustered up his courage and, before he lost his nerve, Liam made his move. Scooting over to sit beside Renee (although leaving a gap), he looked out on the sun slowly making its way behind the mountains. "Sure is a beautiful sight."

Renee watched him closely. She could tell from his voice that he was tense, his back was slightly rigid, and he seemed to be avoiding looking in her direction. Realizing how nervous he mush be, she closed the gap and took his hand in hers. "The best I've ever seen." She could feel him relaxing, and she only relaxed herself when she felt him squeeze her hand.

They sat there watching the sun slink lower, its apparent path taking it right into the crevasse between two mountains. Liam broke the silence with one word. "Amarna."

Renee looked up at him funny. "What?"

Not taking his eyes off the sight, he explained. "Amarna was the city in Egypt that the Pharaoh Akhenaten built. He was a real revolutionary, actually. A couple years after he became pharaoh in 1353BCE, he declared that Egypt's pantheon of gods didn't exist, that there was only one god called the Aten, the Sun-Disc. He also changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten and decided to build a new capital city, Akhetaten, in the middle of the desert."

"Well, where does 'Amarna' come in, then?" Renee asked, slightly confused.

"Amarna is what it's called today, or what's left of it. After Akhenaten died, the Egyptians reinstated their old gods and moved the capital back to Thebes. Guess they didn't understand the concept of an abstract deity like the sun. Akhenaten was certainly ahead of his time."

Still a little confused, Renee asked, "So what made you think of that?"

Liam looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm a little nervous. Guess I'm babbling."

Squeezing his hand and smiling, she replied, "Don't worry about it. So, you were thinking of Amarna…."

He gestured to the sun, now barely visible, resting between the dip of two mountains. "That's the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for 'horizon'. It was also the sight that made Akhenaten build his new capital out in the middle of nowhere. He saw the sun setting between two small 'sand-mountains,' and since he thought the sun was Aten, he thought it was a message from the god, telling him where to build the city." 

Thinking he was just boring her even more, he continued, hoping to change that bore into impression. "He really loved his god. He wrote a poem that said, 'Beautifully you appear from the horizon of heaven. Oh living Aten, who initiates life…Oh sole god, without another beside him! You create the Earth according to your wish…You are in my heart, and there is none who knows you except your son.'"

Realizing he was done, she asked, "It's a nice poem. The son being Akhenaten?" He nodded. "Nice history lesson."

Believing her comment to be sarcastic, he loosened his hold on her hand, saying, "Sorry, didn't mean to bore you."

Renee tightened her grip on his hand, realizing his train of thought. "No, it's a good story, really," she said, trying to convince him. She really did enjoy learning about history, particularly ancient history. "So it's true?"

Relaxing a bit, he berated himself for jumping to conclusions. "Yep, all of it. At least, that's what the historians believe. After the city was abandoned, they destroyed almost everything about Akhenaten, the city, and the Aten. A few things survived, though, including the bust of his wife Nefertiti. She was believed to be one of the most beautiful women in history." Looking down at Renee with a smile, he continued. "Although not the only one."

Looking away and blushing slightly, Renee laid her head against Liam's shoulder, bringing her left hand to cover the other, which was entangled with his.

They sat there watching the sun slink behind the mountains, and enjoying the other's company. Liam finally ended the silence by asking how Renee's brother was doing, having recently returned from a well-deserved vacation to figure out where he was headed, where he was going. She replied that he was well and had decided not to let his recent ordeal run his life, he would continue his work aiding third-world, war-torn countries.

They continued talking well on after the sun had disappeared, illuminated by the bright moon and the slight, bluish glow emanating from the interior of the shuttle. Their conversation ranged from a multitude of subjects, from their childhood (in Liam's case, his first year), to the past few days. Liam careful to avoid the topic of Renee learning a couple weeks ago that, due to Taelon radiation, she couldn't bear children, a topic he knew caused her grief.

Laughing at something she had just said, Liam noticed her staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing," she began, grinning sheepishly. "I just don't think I've ever heard you laugh before." She saw him frown, thinking. "What's wrong?"

Looking at her he said, "Hmm? Oh, it's just…I don't think I actually have."

"What?" she said, confused. "Laugh?"

"Yeah."

She smiled at him. "Come on Liam, sure you have."

"No, I'm serious." At her incredulous expression, he continued. "My life hasn't exactly been stress-free and a lot of fun. You said it yourself, you've never seen me laugh."

"True," she said playfully, "But I've only known you for, oh, about a year and a half."

"True," he mocked, "But I've only been around for a little more than two and a half."

"True." At that they both gave a slight chuckle. She leaned heavily against his chest and felt his arm go around her shoulder, holding her closer. "You know, you should be able to laugh more often. With all that you do, you deserve to be happy."

Staring off into the distance, he said, "I am happy." Taking his hand, he rubbed it along her shoulder. "Now," he added. Renee looked up at him and smiled before bringing her head down to rest against his chest.

They sat like that for a long time, watching the silhouetted trees move in the slight breeze, listening to the nocturnal noises that marked the existence of one of Earth's last, untouched, ancient lands.

They were both nearing sleep when Renee spoke up, reluctantly. "You know Liam, as much as I hate to say this, I have an early meeting in the morning."

Liam sighed. "Yeah, I have to be at the embassy by nine." With that they reluctantly got up, gathered the blanket and remains of their dinner, and headed into the shuttle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know it kind of ended abruptly, but the next chapter will take off right from here.


	4. Uncertainties

And the next part. One or two people were wondering when I was going to get to the 'time part'. I'm hoping that will be soon, but as I said in the Author's Notes (Prologue), the first few chapters were going to mostly be back story, which I know most people find kind of boring. I'm hoping to get through that in the next couple of chapters, and finally be able to jump right into the plot I had planned. Unfortunately, I have a problem with detail…I use too much of it! 

See Prologue for disclaimer.

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Chapter 3

Half an hour later found them outside Renee's apartment, hand in hand. Letting go so she could disarm her security system, Renee turned back towards him, inadvertently causing them to be less than a foot apart.

"Renee, I wanted to thank you. I had a really nice time," Liam said, once again taking her hand.

"Thank _me_?" she said, surprised. "_I_ should be the one thanking _you_, you're the one who set this up." 

Smiling, he asked, " Does that mean you enjoyed yourself?"

"What do you think?" Before he had a chance to answer, she leaned towards him, planting her lips on his.

The kiss was short and sweet. When they pulled apart Liam, flustered and trying to cover it up, replied, "So, that's a yes?"

Laughing, sighing, and shaking her head all at once, she pulled him back down to her and kissed him again, slightly longer this time. Pulling apart only by a few inches, she stated simply, "Yes."

They stared intently at each other for a few moments. Not sure who leaned in first, they met each other halfway, holding this one longer. Gently, not frantically, they reached out, arms sliding around the other, deepening the kiss. They heard the sound of the elevator door opening and attempted to ignore it, only to pull apart when hearing the sound of laughter and pounding feet.

They watched as a young boy ran out, chased by a girl of about the same age, each carrying a large duffel bag. A couple seconds later a man and woman exited, carrying similar bags, the man trailing after the children, saying, "Scott, Ali, slow down!"

The woman turned to face Liam and Renee. "I'm sorry," she said apologetically. Turning, she headed in the direction of the man and children, towards the opposite end of the hallway.

"Interesting," Liam said, turning back to Renee.

"New neighbours," she said by way of explanation. "Guess they just got here, the movers were in and out of there earlier. I saw them a few weeks ago checking out the place but never met them; seemed okay, but the kids were kinda wild." She emphasised her last statement by gesturing between them.

"It's probably for the best." Watching as something akin to regret crossed her face, Liam quickly cleared up his meaning. "Your meeting?"

Grinning, slightly embarrassed, she replied, "Right, that."

"Well, I'd better go." He began walking toward the elevator while still looking in Renee's direction, only letting go of her hand when the distance between them was to great for their arms to reach. From the elevator, Liam watched as she opened her door and slipped inside. "See you tomorrow? I should be there about noon."

Nodding, she said, "Goodnight," before closing her door.

Getting into the elevator, Liam headed on his way home.

o0o

Breathing in the cool night air of the deserted park, Liam Kincaid walked along the tree-lined path, passing a swing set, stopping near a vacant vendor's booth when he heard the sound of shuffling. Scanning the area behind him, Liam could almost sense the eyes watching him, yet none revealed themselves. Shaking his head, blaming his unease on the paranoia that plagued his life, he turned back to his original direction, startled to find a dark figure standing fifteen feet in front of him.

Calming himself, Liam took a step towards the figure, a young man in a dark sweatshirt, hood masking part of his face, the darkness covering the rest. "Are you okay?"

The young man simply stood there. In a cautious tone, asking, "Are you Liam Kincaid?"

A little unnerved, Liam nodded. "Yes."

Now sounding a little frightened, however slightly relieved, he stated, "I need your help."

As compassion overpowered his suspicions, Liam took several steps forward. "What can I help you with?" From his new position, Liam could dimly make out the outlines of the other's face, twisted into an evil smirk. Alarmed by the sudden change in the young man's demeanour, suspicion returned to overpower compassion, and it's friend fear tagging along. 

"I need some information."

Hearing before seeing them, Liam turned, watching as six men walked out from the trees, forming a circle around him. The ring-leader stepped up to complete the circle, grinning as Liam reached for his sidearm, only to find it missing. Searching frantically for a way out, he charged the person nearest to him.

The men, not realizing what he would do, had no time to react, allowing Liam the time he needed to ram the person, blessed momentum propelling them to the ground. Rolling and quickly recovering into a crouching position, Liam watched, bewildered, as the men, who had started towards him, were now backing up, staring with genuine fear in their eyes. Feeling the heat generating from his hands and noticing the way his attackers were acting, Liam chanced a look down, knowing he was taking a risk.

Gasping at the sight of glowing white light emanating from the palms of his hands, Liam's expression turned to one of shock and fear, resulting in a fatal error. His attackers, upon seeing his surprised, took the proffered opportunity.

The sound of pounding feet shook Liam from his reverie, allowing him to realize the dangerous position he was in. He quickly looked up, only to be knocked back to the ground as the men converged on him, ready to strike.

o0o

Bolting upright and breathing heavily, it took Liam a few moments to realize he was sitting in his bed and not on the ground of the park. _Just a dream,_ he thought as he lay back, his chest heaving. Aloud he said, "Not again," bringing a hand to rub his face.

He'd been having this dream nearly every night for the past two weeks. Usually the setting would change, the previous night had been at the-then deserted D.C. shuttle garage, but the rest was always the same: the leader would ask for help and the next thing he knew, Liam was being jumped by the whole group. But he never saw the ending, never knew how it played out. He always woke up as they charged him, and this time had been no different.

He lay there, pondering why the dream never progressed, why every time it ended the same. Suddenly, remembering this latest one, realizing there was a new element, he bolted up again. Reaching frantically for the switch beside his bed, turning the small lamp on, he quickly brought his hands to his field of vision, closely scanning his palms in the dim light. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed the complete absence of the small, dark-red marks that had once announced the presence of his shaqarava.

Having never gained anything near complete control over his shaqarava, Liam had always feared them. Not only was he afraid that he'd accidentally hurt someone during one of the emotional outbursts experienced in his earlier days, there was the chance that someone other than Da'an or the select few resistance who knew about him would catch a glimpse of them in action. He had some idea of what the military might do to him if they ever got their hands on him. As for the Taelons…well, he'd be lucky if they just killed him outright; not all were as believing and trusting as Da'an. He had certainly not felt any great sadness when he realized they had either disappeared or become dormant; only the very rare occasion when they would have been a good defensive measure did he feel a very small sense of regret.

When he still had his shaqarava, they would be a constant theme in his dreams. However, they hadn't had an appearance since the last time he used them, over a year ago. A year ago, that is, until just now. He prayed this was not a sign they were coming back.

Realizing the late, or rather the early, time, Liam slumped back down and tried to get some more sleep.


	5. Matters of Security

Well, here's the next part. It's kinda short, but I'm going on vacation and I've been busy. Hopefully I'll have more when I come back, but for now, enjoy.

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Chapter 4

"Sounds like you two had a pretty good time," Street was saying. She and Renee were sitting on the couch in the Resistance Lair, waiting for Liam to show.

"Uh, yeah," Renee replied, smiling. Giving a small laugh, she continued. "It was kind of awkward at first, but it was fun."

"Well, I can't say I'm not jealous, but I _am_ happy for you. And it's about time!" Street chided.

"Thanks Street." She was about to go on when a quiet beeping noise sounded from a nearby computer, alerting them to someone coming down the elevator. Street walked up to the computer. "Who is it?" Renee asked.

"Lover Boy," she replied, trying to keep a straight face. "Well, I'm gonna get out of your hair." She gathered her jacket and went to stand by the door.

"It's okay Street, you don't have –"

"No sweat," she replied, reassuringly. "I have to meet a friend anyway." At that moment the door opened and Liam stepped in. "See ya Renee." Walking past Liam, Street spoke in a conspiratory voice, "Have fun!" winking at him. With that, she left.

Staring at the door, Liam then turned to face Renee. Raising an eyebrow he asked, "You told her?"

"How'd you know?" She gave him a mock grin.

Liam just shook his head. "So…." He said, not sure where to begin. "How was your meeting?"

She got up and walked towards him. "Well, you know, boring." She continued walking. "I was thinking about you," she said playfully.

"Oh, really?" he asked, smiling and playing along. "What about?"

"Doing this." She put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him.

He placed his hands on her hips, deepening the kiss for a few more seconds. He broke the kiss, pulling himself away only by inches. "As much as I'm enjoying this," he said breathlessly, eliciting a small laugh from Renee, "I'm supposed to be back at the Mother Ship in 20 minutes. Did Street tell you what she found?"

Sighing, she reluctantly led him over to the circular computer station. "Yeah." Entering a few commands on one of the consoles, she brought up a file. "Street confirmed that the raid on Colin's cell last week was not brought about by a traitor."

Liam read the file, confirming what Renee was telling him. "Well, if it wasn't an internal breach, how'd the Volunteers find them? There's never been any known Resistance activity in Oaxaca, or anywhere else in southern Mexico for that matter."

"Seems Colin's hacker isn't as good as he thinks he is," Renee replied with a bit of an edge to her voice. She brought up a second file. "The FBI was able to backtrack him. We're just lucky no one was captured or killed." She looked at Liam and softened her voice a little. "Even with Amnesty, the Feds won't tolerate us hacking into their mainframe."

"Yeah," he said, glancing back at the screen before beginning to pace. "We'll have to send out an order…_again_…about leaving hacking into the more sophisticated systems to Street and the others Augur vouched for. This can't happen again."

Renee reached out and put a hand on Liam's arm, preventing him from further pacing. "Calm down, don't worry. By now half the Resistance has heard about what went down in Oaxaca, and the rest will soon. I don't think many people will be willing to try what Carlos did anytime soon."

Taking her advice and reassurance into consideration, Liam allowed himself to relax a bit. Sighing, he took another look at the computer. "Yeah, probably. But I'm still sending out that order." Glancing at his watch, he winced at the time. "But that will have to wait until tomorrow, I have to get back to the Mother Ship. Sandoval's giving the 'unofficial' security details for next week's Singapore presentation." His annunciation of 'unofficial' told Renee that these would be the real security details, whereas the briefing Liam had attended the day before was faked; something that would be more accessible to unwelcome guests in order to throw them off the trail of the real set-up.

Liam opened the door to the elevator and looked back. "You staying here?"

Renee looked up from the computer. "Yeah, I'm going to look into the Sunrise situation."

He smiled at her while backing out of the room. "Talk to you later?"

She nodded. "Bye." At that, the door closed and Renee went to work.

o0o

"…Main convoy will centre around Major Kincaid's shuttle, " Sandoval was saying. He was standing in front of a large group of Companion agents, law enforcement officials, and event co-ordinators both from the US and Singapore. "Major Kincaid will be flying Zo'or, Da'an, our Door's Liaison Renee Palmer, and myself." Liam groaned inwardly at that, he'd been hoping the 'rumor' about Zo'or and Sandoval had been just that. Continuing on, Sandoval said, "Roberts, your shuttle will lead, and Simms will come up behind us. Erikson and Miller will take the right flank, Serez and Bailey will take the left flank. Any questions?" The room was silent, everyone knowing better then to respond. "Very well. Lieutenant Evans will lead the decoy…."

The room listened while Sandoval went on to the ground security.

After an hour and a half of fine-tuning the details they were finished. "There will most likely be changes before the presentation. In fact, expect them." With that, Sandoval dismissed them.

Liam gathered up his global and the security plans that had been handed out, preparing to leave, when he heard his name. "Yes Sandoval?" he asked, turning.

Sandoval hesitated slightly before coming to a decision. "I understand you and Ms. Palmer are…friends." 

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Yes, why?"

"I am very busy this week and I would appreciated it if you were to fill her in on the security plans."

Liam, knowing it was really an order rather than favour, replied, "Sure." Sandoval nodded and walked out of the room, leaving behind a slightly perplexed Liam. _What was with his little _friends_ comment?_ Liam wondered. _He could have just ordered me, Renee's and my friendship had nothing to do with it._ He shook his head and left for the shuttle bay. Even with his memories, Sandoval would forever remain a mystery to him.


	6. Neighbors

Yes, I'm still alive…. Here's the next part, sorry it took so long. I think I've started to get away a little from back-story and into the actual plot of the fic, but there is some back story here too. However, I'm hoping the next chapter will end the back-story and I can get into the actual fic…which may prompt me to write faster!

This story is now dedicated to the memory of Midnight the cat…who will be making a guest appearance in later chapters.

Enjoy!

****

Chapter 5

Later that night found Liam and Renee sitting on the floor in front of her low coffee table, security plans spread out on the table and up on the vid screen. They sat beside each other talking - their conversation drifting off course occasionally - and eating Chinese take-out.

"Alright," Liam began. "After lunch on Wednesday we're getting a tour of the new portal station. There'll be a security team of about 6 Volunteers with us, as well as several Volunteers on patrol arou –" He drifted off as a knock came from Renee's front door.

"Just a sec," she replied, getting up and walking to the door.

Renee opened the door to reveal a man and woman; she recognized them as the couple that had just moved in, whom Liam and she had seen the night before. "Hello," she greeted, a bit of confusion evident in her voice.

The couple smiled warmly at her. The woman spoke up, "Hi, sorry to just drop in on you like this, but we just moved in two doors down and we wanted to introduce ourselves. I'm Jenny Connor, and this is my husband Sean."

Smiling a bit more invitingly, Renee shook hands. "I'm Renee Palmer, welcome to the building." Wanting to make a good impression, she opened her door wider. "Please, come in." As the couple walked in, Renee shut the door.

Liam looked up from the sheet he was reading when he heard footsteps approaching. He saw two vaguely familiar people walk into the room, followed by Renee. He stood up to greet them.

Renee walked past her visitors to stand beside Liam. "Jenny and Sean Connor, this is Liam Kincaid."

"Nice to meet you," Liam replied, holding out his hand. The two smiled at him and shook his hand.

"Please, sit down," Renee gestured to the sofa. As they sat down, Renee quickly yet discreetly turned off her vid screen while Liam gathered up the papers on the coffee table. "Can I get you anything?"

Sean replied, "Oh no, we're fine, thanks." 

Jenny, noticing what Liam was doing, said, slightly apologetically, "I hope we didn't interrupt you."

Liam smiled. "Don't worry about it, it wasn't a pressing matter, and we could use the break." Putting the pile of papers back into a folder, he sat down beside Renee on a smaller sofa opposite the one the Connors were seated on.

"So," Renee began, curious. "What brings you to Washington? I noticed the logo on the moving truck was from California."

"I was offered a new job," Sean explained. "I used to work for the Sarron and Harper Firm in LA, but JMH offered me a better position in Washington."

"JMH?" Liam asked.

"Offices of Jensen, Mansbridge, and Haycock," Renee answered. "Doors does business with them." Liam nodded.

Sean looked at her. "Do you work for Doors International?"

"Yes, I'm a CEO." Looking to Jenny, Renee asked, "Do you work?"

Jenny smiled. "I was a nurse at Cedars Sinai, and I'm hoping to get a position at Washington General, or somewhere near here."

"Good luck," Liam said before finishing what was left of his drink. Jenny smiled and nodded her acknowledgement.

"So, Mr. Kincaid, what do you do?" Sean asked.

"Call me Liam," Liam began. "I'm a Companion Protector."

"_Major_ Liam Kincaid?" Sean asked at the same time his wife asked, "Da'an's protector?"

"Yes," Liam said, slightly embarrassed, "To both." 

There was an awkward silence as neither couple knew what to say.

"Finally, Renee broke the silence. "So, I noticed you have children."

Smiling, glad for a topic, Jenny responded. "Yes, two, a boy and girl."

Sean took over. "Scott's ten, and Alexandra's eight. But she prefers Ali." Sean smiled.

"A nice name," Liam replied.

"So what about you?" Jenny asked. "Do either of you have kids?"

Renee looked down and shook her head, trying to keep the emotional turmoil from her face. Liam subtly took her hand, to unknowing subjects it would be seen as an affectionate gesture, but it was really one of calming reassurance. "No, neither of us does," Liam answered.

Another awkward silence descended, but this one was quickly broken by Sean. "Well, speaking of kids, we left ours playing video games, and we should be getting back." They got up and headed to the door, Renee and Liam following.

Stepping out into the hall and turning back to face their hosts, the Connors smiled. "It was nice meeting you," said Sean.

"Yes, and again, I hope we didn't disturb you," Jenny added.

Renee forced a smile, still fighting off conflicting emotions. "Not at all." As her guests left, Renee shut the door. Immediately turning, she threw her hands around Liam.

Liam, slightly confused, recovered quickly and slid his arms around her, holding her tight. From her shuddered breathing and the slight tremors running through her body he could tell she was fighting back tears. "Shh," he began in a calming voice, "It's okay." He wasn't sure what else to say, he wasn't used to Renee showing this much emotion, and though the thought he understood why she was upset, she'd never been as choked up as she was now.

They stayed like that for a few seconds longer, and then Renee was aware of Liam manoeuvring them back into her living room. Liam sat down at the far end of the sofa, grabbed one of the throw-pillows and place it in his lap. When Renee sat beside him, he pulled her down so her head rested on the pillow and her body was stretched the length of the couch, her back to him.

"Calm down," Liam soothed, rubbing his hand up and down her tense arm. He felt relieved when she began to relax. Wanting to know why she reacted so intensely, he decided to broach the subject. "I understand why you're upset, but remember what Zo'or said, there's a possibility the damage will reverse itself."

Renee tensed ever so slightly before speaking. "You're absolutely right, Liam. Zo'or did say that, there's a perfectly good chance I'll be able to have children. Guess I was just overreacting."

__

That was too easy, Liam thought. Renee's voice had been very convincing in hiding her true emotions, and he would have believed her had he not known her well. But Renee never overreacted, and on the extremely rare occasion that she did, it was not without good reason.

"There's something else, isn't there?" he prodded, keeping his voice neutral.

She tensed again and Liam regretted pushing her. "It's okay Renee, you don't have to talk abo--"

"No," she cut him off, surprising both of them with the forcefulness of her voice. "No," she repeated, quieter this time. "I think you should know." Renee was surprised by her own words. She'd vowed never to talk about this subject again.

"Okay," he whispered. He slid his hand down her arm and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "Take your time."

"I just…." Renee began, clearly disturbed. "Please, promise me you won't judge me based on my past, too many others have."

"Of course not," he answered, voice full of emotional concern. He was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea; he certainly wouldn't judge her, but this was obviously very hard and he wanted to protect her against the pain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, guess I kinda left it hanging…but I figured I should post the next chapter soon, and that's as far as I got. Hopefully next part won't take as long!


	7. Painful Revelations

Here's the next part, and it comes with a:

WARNING: This part deals with death and a small mention of rape, but nothing graphic or detailed. For this, I'm keeping the same rating, as I don't believe it's enough to up the rating.

Also, I'm not completely satisfied with my character portrayal here, but I don't feel like messing around with it anymore, so here it is.

I also want to point out that this may be the last part for awhile…I'm into the last month of school, which is always hectic, and I'm also testing for my 1st Dan black in tae kwon do in a few weeks, so I'll be training in most of my spare time. Sorry.

****

Chapter 6

Renee didn't speak for a couple of minutes, she was bringing up the painful memories she had buried and trying to figure out how exactly to describe the events of her past. When she finally did speak, she was amazed at how strong her voice was - a great contrast to how she felt inside. However, years of being a corporate executive and Resistance fighter had paid off.

"When I was a teenager I was wild. And I mean _really_ wild. I was my parents' good little girl by day, somehow managed to become one of the stop students in school, but by night I was a completely different person. Every night I'd tell my parents I was going to my friends' to study, but we'd really go out partying, drinking, that sort of thing. Event though he was only a year younger, Richard always came with me. We had a deal, each time we went out, we took turns who was going to stay sober and come up with a plan to sneak the other into the house." Renee smiled a bit at that, lost in her memory, her voice lighter. "It was weird, no one else I knew got along with their siblings, but Richard and I were inseparable."

"One night, when I was seventeen, Richard got the flu and couldn't go out. I went anyway since we were only going to meet up at a friend's house. After I got there we had a call about a party; it wasn't in the best part of town but we went nonetheless. Worst mistake of my life."

Liam had been staring off into space, listening, when her final sentences were spoken. He looked down at her, surprised by the change in her voice - from light-hearted to icy calm. Feeling she need his support, he squeezed her hand and then gently rubbed the back of her palm.

Renee got her voice under control before continuing. "I must have caught something from Richard because I started to feel sick just after we arrived. I had got a ride there and no one wanted to leave, so I decided to take a bus since the stop was only a block or so away. I was waiting, and…and a man came up, grabbed me, and dragged me into an alley. I was screaming and fighting, but…." Her voice trailed off as she began to sob silently. Mustering her courage, she continued. "It wasn't enough. And I was raped."

Liam closed his eyes and let out his breath slowly, conflict emotions whirling inside his head: sympathy and sorrow for Renee and blinding fury at whomever had done this to her. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and pulled her as best he could against his chest given their awkward position. He bent kissed her hair softly before resting his head on top of hers. Renee's shuddering breath and slight spasms were Liam's only indication of her silent sobbing. "Shh," he murmured. "It's okay…. It's okay."

It was a long time before either spoke. Then, suddenly, Renee broke the silence. "A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant." Liam's expression was that of surprise, but it quickly turned to understanding as the pieces fell into place. "A couple months after my eighteenth birthday I had a daughter. I was seriously considering adoption; I didn't want any reminders of what happened. But when I saw her…." Renee trailed off, her voice become light-hearted again. "She was so innocent…I realized then it wasn't her fault, and she shouldn't be punished for it. My parents and brother understood, they were really helpful and supportive, so I kept her."

Renee's voice lightened and took on a tone of nostalgia. Smiling, she continued, "I named her Talia. She was like a mirror image of me when I was a baby. Like I said, my parents were really helpful so I was able to make up the school I missed quickly." Her next words were spoken with slight grin. "I used basketball as a way to get back in shape, and found out I wasn't half bad. I made the team my senior year, and was accepted into Harvard when I was nineteen on a basketball scholarship. My parents moved with me to Boston so they could help take care of Talia when I was at school. God Liam, she was the sweetest little girl you'd ever meet. I loved her so much…she was my world." Renee paused.

Liam wasn't sure if this was heading in a good direction. He thought he had some idea of where Renee was going with her story based on her continued referral to Talia in the past sense, and he could also feel her tensing again. "It's alright," he whispered. "You don't have to go on if you don't want to."

"No," she replied, touched by his concern yet determined to finish. "I need to."

"Okay," he said, understanding.

"I was in the first semester of my second year; Talia was three. I was right in the middle of mid-terms so my parents decided to take Talia up to the family cabin to give me a study break. I followed them up the night after my last mid-term, but I didn't get there until about 3 in the morning, so I slept in the next day. When I woke up the next morning I was called down to the hospital in the nearest town; there'd been a car accident.

"My mother told me later that they'd gone out to get me breakfast from my favorite restaurant in the town when someone clipped a stop sign and ran into them," Renee was now fighting for control on her composure. "My mother only had minor injuries, she was driving and the car was hit on the passenger side. My father died a few hours later from internal injuries. And Talia…." She sucked in a large breath of air as the tears slowly made their way down her face. Liam was just about to tell her not to go on when she did. "Talia died on impact. Where she was sitting…it was a direct hit." She swallowed hard; the bombshell now dropped, she was finally able to get a handle on her emotions.

Liam sighed deeply and leaned his head against the back of the couch, closing his eyes. He'd been afraid she'd say something like that. He knew well enough the pain of losing a parent, but to lose a parent and a child in one day was beyond him. He now thought he had some idea of why she always seemed distant or unapproachable…she didn't want to expose her pain-filled emotions. The only problem with keeping them bottled, however, was that when they did break through the surface it was hard reigning them in, as he'd just seen. Liam himself had that problem.

Silence descended. Liam knew Renee well enough to know that she would only resent sympathy, and she seemed to be gaining the upper hand on her emotional struggle; her breathing was back to normal and she relaxed a bit.

After a few more minutes of silence Renee spoke again. "I'm sorry."

Liam lifted his head, slightly confused. "For what?"

Her short laugh held a hint of disgust. "For laying my sorry past on you."

Liam narrowed his eyes. Awkwardly getting up from under Renee, he turned around and kneeled on the floor so he could look her in the eyes. "Don't be." He took her hand. "I'm glad you did. I want to know about your past…I want to know about _you_." He brushed a lock of hair off her face, noticing that, other than a small tinge of red around her eyes, all evidence of her crying was gone.

Renee looked at him and gave a slight smile. She sat up and pulled Liam back to sit beside her. They leaned back, Liam's arm draped across the back of the couch. "I know," Renee's voice was fairly quiet and soft, and at that point Liam knew her unemotional façade was finally back in place. "I'm sorry about crying and everything, but you're the first person I've told, other than my parents and brother, about the…_details_…concerning my…Talia. Everyone else just assumed I was an irresponsible teenager…those I told about her, of course. By law my name couldn't be released, so no one ever found I was…. Not that I really wished them to know the truth," she added, with a slightly icy tone.

Liam was at a loss for words; Renee had just essentially told him that he's the only one she's ever trusted enough to share her darkest, most painful secret with. Nothing he could think of could adequately describe how that felt. He'd never felt he'd been trusted that much in his entire short life, not even Da'an had trusted him that much….

"Liam?"

Realizing he'd gone off into his own little world, Liam brought his attention back to their conversation. "Sorry, just thinking."

"So…what are you going to do?" her voice had an almost playful note and he realized she was trying to hide behind humor…his response wasn't exactly what she was expecting.

Liam turned his body so he was sitting facing her. Smiling, he said, "Well, I'm not going to 'judge' you, if that's what you mean," using her earlier concern to try and calm her. "None of it was your fault…the fact that you were strong enough to go through all you did _and_ get accepted into Harvard, on a scholarship no less, is remarkable," he added, trying to lighten the mood.

She obviously wasn't amused. "I'm serious."

Liam sighed. "What did you think I was going to do? Run away screaming?" He smiled, attempting humor again. "If anyone was gonna do that, I thought it would be you." He was glad when he saw an exasperated but true grin appear on Renee's face. 

"You _are_ wise beyond your years, Kincaid," she said, leaning in to kiss him. Liam knew by now that her unemotional façade was completely back in place, and although he didn't feel it was good for her mental health to just bottle her feelings back up, he didn't want to upset her more by broaching that subject again.

He grinned. "Don't I know it." He kissed her softly, then pulled back, sighing. "I'd love to stay a little longer, but it's getting late, and I think you should get some sleep."

Renee was about to protest, believing he'd thought her weak and unable to take care of herself. Then realizing he just cared about her, she gave. "Alright. See you tomorrow?"

"You bet," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He stood up, gathered up his files, and opened her door. "Bye."

"Bye," she replied, watching as he closed the door behind him. Renee got up and went to her kitchen to get a drink. Filling a glass with water, she stood at her sink, thinking. She hadn't really realized how much she cared for Liam until she finished telling him her story…and his reaction was more than she had hoped for. 

__

Maybe my gut feeling was right, she thought while taking a sip of water, referring to her previous desire to share something more with Liam than friendship. _I just hope I'm not reading more into this situation or his frame of mind than is true._ With that, she poured the rest of the water down the drain and headed up the stairs to her bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This officially ends the round of back-story! Meaning, I can finally get to the real plot, which will hopefully entice me to write faster. But, like I said, may take me a bit longer to post the next part. 


	8. Singapore

And finally, the next part, sorry it took so long. My test is now over, but I've got exams coming up, so the next part may take a week or two…but after that, I'm hoping to get more out soon. Enjoy.

See Prologue for disclaimers, etc. 

****

Chapter 7

The next week passed quickly, Liam and Renee took the relatively (and rare) low-Resistance activity gratefully and explored more of their budding relationship. Renee, sympathetic to Liam's unusual predicament, was both surprised and pleased at the rate Liam was comfortable to proceed at. They had spent all but two of the past nine nights since Renee's painful revelations together; they'd talk for hours just getting to know each other emotionally, and of course they spent some of their time getting to know each other physically, as well. While they both knew neither was ready to progress too far, they were content to simply kiss and hold each other. They were both happy with the way things were turning out, and wondered why they waited so long in the first place.

That's why, when Renee opened her door Monday morning, neither was surprised nor flustered when she reached up and wrapped her arms around Liam's neck, kissing him, while he too put his arms around her.

"Hi," she said, grinning.

"Hey," he replied, returning the grin.

"Just have to get my briefcase," she said, extracting herself from his embrace and walking back into her apartment. Liam stayed where he was, just outside the doorjamb. Picking up the aforementioned article, Renee walked back to the door, fighting a grin as she got a better look at Liam's appearance. "Nice suit," she joked, turning her attention to her security system.

Liam just shook his head, rolling his eyes. He was dressed more formally than normal. _A little too formally,_ he thought, considering the climate of the day's excursion. Getting into the elevator, they headed up to the roof of the building and into the waiting shuttle. Quickly arriving at the Washington Embassy, they collected Sandoval and the two Taelons. 

Liam then entered ID space, exiting just off the West Coast of the US, where they met up with their shuttle escort. Re-entering ID space in formation, the entourage of shuttles soon found themselves hovering over the metropolis of Singapore, arriving without incidence to the presentation building.

o0o

The morning presentation went off without a hitch: there were no security threats and the new portal demonstrations encountered no problems. They broke for lunch for two hours at 12:30, and many spectators took the opportunity to approach the two Taelons and the Doors representative to ask questions.

Liam took the first hour to provide security for both Taelons while Sandoval was eating his lunch and checking up on the Volunteer security force. After he came back, Sandoval relieved Liam, who then went to eat and briefly check over his shuttle, a habit Lili had insisted he get into when she'd first taught him to pilot, and a habit he'd perfected completely after Doors had his shuttle sabotaged. 

Satisfied with his check, Liam exited the shuttle and headed back inside, sitting down in the back row facing the dais where Da'an, Zo'or, and Renee were talking with some potential clients. He opened his global, checking his messages.

Renee had been standing on the dais answering questions from different people for over an hour. Finally the crowd had died down, there were only three people hanging around now, so she excused herself when she saw Liam walk back in.

Sandoval was standing between Da'an and Zo'or, silent and trying his best to keep the bored expression off his face. The Taelons were currently engaged with Portal Authority reps from Paris. By the tone of the conversation he could tell they were going to be there awhile, seemingly more interested in Taelon chit-chat than the new model. He watched with slight masked envy as Renee Palmer managed to excuse herself from the discussion; as she headed to the back of the auditorium he found himself fairly _un_surprised when she sat down beside Liam.

Sandoval wasn't the only one paying attention to the couple; Da'an, while keeping up the pretence of listening to the conversation, had most of his attention focused on his young protector, his friend. He was not so different that he could not sense the tension when they were together, Liam and Renee; he'd noticed it for awhile now. But something had changed. Ms. Palmer had come to see him twice over the last week, and he'd noticed the tension lessened, especially so today. He had also noticed his protector's lightened mood; it was subtle, but it was there.

As he watched them at the back of the room, he noticed Liam laughing at something Renee had said. Da'an was slightly astonished, he'd never seen Liam laugh, even in his earlier days when he hadn't been so thoroughly tortured and betrayed by the world around him. He was glad his protector was beginning to enjoy his life.

Realizing he was being asked a question by one of the Parisians, Da'an turned his attention back to the conversation.

o0o

The presentation resumed roughly around 14:30. The second half was less about the new portal itself and more to disclose the details concerning its trial run, which would include a portal here in Singapore connecting to one in Tokyo, a major terminal route always backing up. If the results proved the cost was worth it, the trial would be expanded to include several other very congested pathways. The presentation finally ended around 19:00, much to Liam's relief, and the five of them were ready to leave about half an hour later.

As Renee and the Taelons were saying goodbye to various representatives, Liam's global beeped. Not sure who was on the other end, the caller ID was blocked, he opened it, about to say hello, when he realized it was a text message, and a cryptic one at that:

~

Liam, hope this is on time, can't remember the time you said you guys popped in at. But in case it's not, I can't give you much information.

__

Lahrian'ma JMH. _Trokma zia'trala matreyva. Phynanac._

That's all I can give you, it's encrypted, if you know what I mean. I am still here, don't tell her, for her sake.

~

That was all the message said, and Liam was more than a little perplexed. There was also no returning number, so he couldn't call back whoever had sent it. He was about to ponder the matter further when duty interfered, and he put the message to the back of his mind for later.

o0o

Liam was herding the others back to his shuttle, thankful there'd been no serious problems throughout the day. They were just approaching the shuttle outside when the sound of energy blasts and gunfire broke out. 

__

You just had to go and jinx yourself, didn't you?! he thought, annoyed, and without thinking he ran and tackled Da'an to the ground. Telling him to stay down, Liam jumped back up and pulled his weapon. Looking back, he saw Sandoval pushing Zo'or and Renee into the shuttle, then turning back around to search for the source of the attack.

There were four assailants visible, firing from various positions. Sandoval, skrill raised, ran up to where Kincaid was, crouched in front of Da'an. 

"Sandoval, get Da'an back to the shuttle!" Liam acknowledged him.

Firing at one or the armed men, Sandoval replied, "No, you go. You're the one who can fly them out of here." Noticing Liam's reluctance, he continued, "That's an order, Major!"

Liam nodded and, noticing the Volunteer teams swarming in, he helped Da'an up and they ran for the shuttle as quickly as the Taelon could move. Looking back, Liam could see Sandoval following, providing cover fire. Arriving at the shuttle, Da'an immediately took his seat, Liam scrambled into the pilot's seat, and a few seconds later Sandoval flung himself inside. Quickly bringing up the virtual glass shield, barely deflecting an energy blast, Liam had the shuttle airborne almost immediately.

Just as Sandoval managed to get to his seat, Liam spotted more assailants and a large energy weapon on the ground, powering up. Thinking quickly, he instructed the ID drives to establish a wormhole. "Jumping to inter-dimensional," he announced distractedly, hoping to beat the energy weapon. The shuttle was just approaching the event horizon when the sensors picked up an energy blast. All five of them felt the impact of the blast, which had hit the lower back end of the shuttle at the exact same time they entered ID space.


	9. A Crash in the Past

And finally, the next part. Sorry it took so long, but of course I was ready to post when the site first went off-line. Enjoy!

****

Chapter 8

Through the bucking and jolting of the shuttle, Liam was finally able to regain some semblance of control. Quickly bringing them out of ID space, the first thing he noticed was the large mass of trees rushing up at them. He was able to gain enough control to avoid a crash, but the landing wasn't entirely flawless; the shuttle raked a short path through the dense underbrush, heads and limbs did a number on the seats, and Liam was sure the shuttle would need repairs.

As Liam stood up he gingerly touched his right side and winced from pain. He'd been thrown against the front of the pilot's seat, catching his lower ribs on the rounded bar; luckily there didn't seem to be any serious damage, at least nothing that wouldn't heal given time. "Everyone okay?" he asked, surveying his passengers.

The two Taelons responded, saying they were fine, while his two human passengers merely nodded. Satisfied, although concerned about a small gash above Renee's left eyebrow, Liam set to work on damage assessment. He sighed in relief as he brought up the shuttle's main screen, grateful the main controls seemed to be working. But that, however, did not necessarily mean all systems were functioning.

Despite their claims, Sandoval went to check both Da'an and Zo'or before aiding Liam with the assessment of their situation. As he turned around he caught a glance out the virtual glass windshield, only to sub-consciously look back out. Something wasn't right. Not moving his gaze, he addressed Liam. "Major, where are we?"

Liam quickly brought up the GPS grid, not really paying much attention. "Uh…just outside of…Toronto," he replied distractedly.

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

Sandoval's frown deepened into a look of concern. "And what time did we enter ID space?" His inquiries had caught the attention of the other three passengers, who came over to listen to the conversation.

The other man sighed. Liam was trying to assess their situation, and Sandoval's seemingly pointless questions were making that difficult. Nevertheless, he brought up the data log. "Approximately 18:30, Singapore time."

"You're sure?"

"That's what I said."

"And you're absolutely certain of our current location?"

Liam hung his head. "Yes!" he replied, annoyed. "Why?" he demanded, bringing his head up to glare at Sandoval. The annoyance quickly left his face when he saw what Sandoval, and by now the others, were staring at. Slowly, Liam turned off the virtual glass shield and stood up from the pilot's seat, walking out of the shuttle while the others remained inside.

They were staring at the sun, or rather, the sun's position in the sky. It was fairly low in the horizon, but it wasn't rising…it was setting. Given the fact that their current location was twelve hours behind Singapore, who's sun had only begun to set, and the fact that their travel time only took a few minutes, it was safe to say all five were at a loss for words.

Liam broke his trance first and quickly headed back inside the shuttle, bringing up the VG shield and controls, beginning a data search. The others stood on either side of him, watching intently.

He sighed after a few minutes. "Something's wrong. The only satellite linkup I can get is with the GPS Sat., and I can't raise the Mothership or the embassies. Any of them."

"I shall attempt the Mothership's emergency frequency," Zo'or replied, more of an order. Liam nodded, giving up his seat to the Taelon. After several minutes it was apparent Zo'or wasn't having any luck. "The transmission is not being received. It is as if the Mothership does not exist." With that, the Taelon stood up, the jerky movements of his hands betraying his frustration and concern.

Da'an spoke up at that moment, slightly reluctant. "Major, when the malfunction in your shuttle caused you to jump to another dimension, you experienced communication and sensor block-outs, did you not?" By his demeanor it was obvious this implication caused Da'an concern.

Liam had originally thought of that possibility, but it just didn't sit right. He knew it was a poor excuse - explaining why he didn't mention it in the first place - but Liam was positive they hadn't crossed dimensions. He didn't know how he knew, but he did…however, he did need an acceptable excuse to lead the others off that trail. "Yes, but the fact that we obtained a GPS up-link kinda shoots that theory…." He trailed off as another idea came to him. "But…." He sat down again and pulled up a data file. "The sensors show that just as we entered inter-dimensional, right before they stopped working, the blast from that energy weapon distorted the wormhole, causing a tear in space-time."

"A temporal distortion?" Zo'or asked, frightened, yet at the same time awed. Liam nodded.

Sandoval raised an eyebrow, disbelieving. "You're saying we traveled in time?" He knew it was possible…at least for future generations, but he still wasn't sure.

Liam looked at him. "Yes, that's what I'm saying. Most likely, we traveled _back_ in time, instead of _forward."_

Sandoval frowned. "Why do you say that?"

Renee, who had been fairly quiet during the discussion, finally spoke up, catching on to Liam's train of thought. "That would explain the sensor and communications problems." She looked at Liam, who nodded at her, indicating she was correct. "If we travelled back before the Taelons arrived, most of the shuttle's systems wouldn't have anything sophisticated enough to link up with." 

Zo'or and Da'an, while agreeing with what she was saying, were hoping Renee was wrong. The thought of being alone without their fellow Taelons was…well, disturbing, to say the least. In the wake of the confusing crash, the two aliens had been too preoccupied to notice, but now that the thought prevailed, they both sense…nothing. They, and they alone, permeated the Commonality…they both tried as hard as they could and could only feel a vague essence stretching over a great distance…there was no Taelon within the galaxy…or the neighboring ones, either. "We are alone…" Da'an gasped, only loud enough for Zo'or, who mirrored Da'an's surprising fear, to hear.

"However," Renee continued. "In the case of the GPS up-link, the GPS satellite is one of the only original satellites we continued using after your arrival," she gestured to the two aliens.

Liam sighed, looking around at everyone in turn. "Time travel, while seemingly far-fetched, does appear to be the most likely cause of our systems' blackout." The Taelons inclined their heads in agreement while Renee, and even Sandoval nodded.

"However, the question remains," Da'an raised one hand, spreading his fingers. All heads turned to him. "How far in time _have_ we traveled?"

They lapsed into silence. Liam, deciding to take charge of the situation, spoke first. "Let's find out," he suggested, dropping the virtual glass shield and pushing away from the pilot's seat, grabbing a small, extra firearm. As he stepped out of the shuttle, followed by the others, he continued, "On our way down, I noticed a few houses near the edge of this forest. It didn't seem too far." Taking a few seconds to cloak the shuttle and get his bearings, Liam led them in a westerly direction.

o0o

Liam guessed it was taking them double the time because the humans constantly had to help the Taelons manoeuver through the dense foliage. They eventually made their way down to the bottom of a shallow ravine and followed the small streambed that cut it's way through. However, despite being relatively clear of debris, it was still slow going.

About forty minutes later they came to an area where the slope of the ravine at the top met what appeared, from their vantage point, to be a road. The five of them were in the midst of discussing whether to continue on through the foliage or take the risk of walking on the road when the faint sounds of footsteps scraping across pavement could be heard above.

Sandoval, not taking his eyes off the road, whispered, "Major Kincaid and I will check it out. Ms. Palmer, stay here with Da'an and Zo'or." With that, he started up the slope.

Liam walked back to Renee, wanting to reassure her. She wasn't showing any signs of fear, but he thought he could see a hint of something akin to concern or apprehension in her eyes. "Here," he said, handing her the extra firearm. As she silently took the gun their hands met, and Liam discreetly rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand in reassurance. She gave him a small smile.

Breaking contact, Liam turned around and jogged to catch up with Sandoval, already halfway up the slope.


	10. Jay's World

****

Chapter 9

They waited just a few feet below the tree line on the slope, hidden behind trees and brush, for the source of the footprints to pass completely. Realizing it was only one person they slowly made their way onto the road.

The person, decked out in strange, bright white fabric pants and a black-hooded sweatshirt, hood drawn up, with a large navy blue sports bag slung across his back, seemed oblivious to them even when they called out. 

Sandoval and Liam walked quickly and soon caught up to the guy, who still hadn't acknowledged their presence. "Excuse me, sir," Sandoval called, reaching for the guy's right wrist. Upon contact of his wrist, the guy visibly tensed, whirled around and, twisting his wrist out of Sandoval's grasp he then grabbed Sandoval's own wrist in both hands. Without stopping, he lifted Sandoval's arm by the wrist and stepped under it, spinning so fast that the FBI Agent was flipped around completely, landing on his back. Hard. Not missing a beat, the stranger tossed the sports bag aside and jumped back into a traditional fighting stance, facing Liam. This was done in the space of less than four seconds.

"Whoa," Liam leaned back, holding both hands out. "Easy…." He looked at the guy, who appeared to be in his teens or early twenties, and did a double take at his features…something about them didn't seem right. "We're not gonna hurt you." He was suddenly reminded of the strange nightmares he'd been having of the hooded figures.

The kid in turn took a closer look at Liam. As he scrutinized the Companion Protector, he raised a hand to pull down the black hood, which was partially obstructing his vision. The first thing that Liam noticed was the long, shoulder-length black hair that fell to frame his, or rather, _her_ face. He now knew why the kid's facial features seemed strange - they were feminine, not masculine. She looked to be about seventeen.

Liam then notice the girl pulling headphones off her ears, allowing them to hang from her neck, the reason she hadn't heard them approach now explained. As she slowly stepped out of her fighting stance, the expressions on her face turned to shocked, yet not quite surprised, recognition. She sighed and closed her eyes, quietly mumbling to herself, "Not this week!"

Sandoval, who hadn't moved since he was slammed into the pavement, noticed the girl's more relaxed demeanor and slowly got to his feet, wincing as his back ached from the impact. Hearing him get up, the girl looked over at him and absently shook her head. "Sorry about that."

Sandoval simply nodded, still wary. "Maybe you could help us."

Before he could go on, the teenager spoke up. "The date is July 13th, 2002."

Liam stared at her, shocked. "How did you…." He trailed off.

She turned her gaze towards him. "I've been expecting you…Kincaid," she replied stoically. Liam raised his eyebrows, shocked she knew his name. "Although I didn't think you'd come this soon. Where are the others?"

"What others?" Sandoval asked, using his CVI to keep at bay any facial expressions that could convey the fact he was lying.

The girl however didn't buy it, giving him a disbelieving look. "Don't play dumb…Sandoval. There's another two…" she paused, "…three of you."

Sandoval shook his head, continuing the façade although secretly surprised she knew his name. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. Turning to face the tree line, she spoke out tentatively, "_Shenyahh'rhu kevyah'hn."_

Both Liam and Sandoval stood there, speechless. Although some of the sounds were a little off, it was an extremely good imitation of the Taelon language. And Liam knew she had actually spoken meaningful words, not just reproduced sounds. Liam was about to question her when he heard rustling from the trees. Seconds later both Da'an and Zo'or emerged, followed by Renee. When Liam looked at her questioningly, she just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, as if to say, 'I couldn't stop them.'

The three of them had been listening to the conversation with the stranger from the cover of the brush. However, when the girl had spoken those strange words both Da'an and Zo'or had looked to each other and, without speaking, had begun making their way to the road, Renee trailing behind.

Liam watched the stranger's face, trying to gauge her reaction to the aliens. He noticed a slight hint of wonder and apprehension, yet no where near the scale he would have expected. _But then,_ he thought, _she said she was expecting us, maybe she expected _them_, too._

"Da'an, Zo'or, what are you doing?" Sandoval asked, annoyed and apprehensive.

Da'an answered. "This human speaks Taelon. She told us it was safe to come out." As if that explained everything. Noticing Sandoval's expression, he elaborated, "We wished to know how she learned."

The girl had been watching the Taelons stepping from the trees in a trance-like state, but the second the aliens were in full view, out in the open, she quickly scanned both ways of the road.

"How did you know those wo--" Zo'or's demand was cut off.

"We have to go. Now!" she ordered, picking up the discarded sports bag, the urgency clear in her voice.

"We're not going anywhere until you tell us who you are and how you knew--" Sandoval was the next to be cut off.

"My name's Jay. Look, this road isn't used a hell of a lot, but at this time of day my neighbors are coming and going. So either you come with me now, or we sit around discussing and get seen by them, which in your predicament I don't think you want to happen." She looked at them, noticing their indecision. "I live a freaking five minutes from here, and I'll explain everything once we get there, but we have to go _now!"_ With that she turned and began walking quickly down the narrow, tree-lined road, obviously not waiting for their decision.

The five of them looked at each other for several seconds. "It would be wise to follow this girl. She may be able to help us," Da'an put forth.

"I agree," Zo'or replied. "We will find out what she knows." Both Taelons began walking in the same direction as the girl, who had gained some distance. Sandoval jogged up to Zo'or, taking point, while Liam brought up the rear, Renee staying back by him.

"What do you thing's going on here?" Renee asked quietly, keeping her voice neutral.

He shrugged, eyes scanning the area. "I don't really know. According to that girl…Jay," he amended, "Our theory was right. We went back roughly ten years, to 2002." Renee nodded.

o0o

Jay had stopped to wait for them to catch up. Once they did, they noticed their surroundings had changed. On either side of the road the trees had opened up to large hilly fields ringed with the forest they'd just trudged through. Not too far from them were two houses, and a third set farther back from the road. The road itself continued on until it once again was shrouded by forest.

Without a word the stranger led them to the first house. Made of red brick it wasn't overtly large, but it wasn't small wither. Unlocking the door she stepped inside, followed by the others, and walked from a small hallway into what appeared to be the living room. She gestured her guests to sit down, which they did. Zo'or, Da'an, and Sandoval on the larger couch, Liam and Renee on a smaller one.

High-pitched barking sounded, causing the two Taelons to jump. A second later a small black dog, cocker spaniel, ran in to greet Jay affectionately and taking an interest in the new visitors. Noticing the Taelons' distress at the strange creature, Jay quickly walked to the door, calling, "Come here, Sammy." He ran over and outside as she opened the door.

Da'an and Zo'or relaxed slightly; having never seen a dog that close before, the primitive beast had startled them. "Don't worry," Jay assured them, coming back into the room. "That little guy isn't capable of harm…he was just happy I came home."

"And you would be…?" Liam asked, his voice friendly.

"Jay." Liam raised his eyebrows, expectant. The girl rolled her eyes slightly. "My name's Jaden Corbin. Jay."

She walked over to a chair, pulling off her black sweatshirt to reveal a white, weird looking garment…almost like a tunic. Liam recognized the top, now making sense of the strange pants…Jay was wearing a martial arts uniform, complete with black V-neck - usually reserved for more senior students - and a black belt. As she sat down he caught a glimpse of the gold embroidered characters on the belt, which signified the wearer was at least on rank above simple "black". The characters looked Korean…from Kukkiwon. "Tae Kwon Do?" he asked her. She nodded.

Jay looked at each of them in turn. "So…why'd you come here?"

~~~~~

Sorry it took me so long to get this part out. I've been busy, and unfortunately I keep hitting major writer's block whenever I go to write, which doesn't help much. I'll try to get the next part out soon, but no guarantees. 


	11. Khayana

Sorry it took so long to get this next part out. I'm not really all that satisfied with this chapter, but I didn't want to bother with it anymore. Not too much happens here, but it helps to explain what's going on in future chapters. School starts back in about a week, I'll try to get another part out by then.

See disclaimers in Prologue. Thanks to Taya for beta'ing.

**Chapter 10 **

Zo'or turned to her. "Did you not say you would explain this. . . _unique_ situation?" The others looked at her, expectant.

The girl had a slightly amused, sarcastic expression on her face. "Oh, no. I _implied_ that I'd explain what I know of this situation, which isn't much. I can explain." she paused, frowning before continuing, ". . . well, sort of. . . how I know you were going to come here. But as for _how_ you came here, and _why_. . . well, that's your department."

The five arrivals sat in awkward silence, not sure what to say. The girl herself knew as much, maybe more, about the situation as they seemed to, yet she claimed no to know that much. . . not very promising. By unspoken agreement, Liam and Sandoval decided not to provide any more information until they knew exactly what was going on.

"Why don't you enlighten us on what you do know?" Sandoval's voice betrayed just he barest hint of his exasperation.

Jay looked at him. "Alright, I'll try. But you're gonna want to keep an open mind." She sighed, hesitating. "Guess you could say I'm not like most ordinary people. . . not that I'm really _ordinary_. Anyway, about a month ago I got this really strange image in my mind, more of a vision I guess. I saw four of you. . . and another shadow, implying the possibility of a fifth person. Apparently that possibility was correct, because here you are.

"I knew two of you were different," she continued, casting a glance at Da'an and Zo'or, "Unlike the others. And a third person was. . ." she turned her gaze to Liam, who was sitting beside Renee, ". . . unique."

Liam tried his best to keep the look of fearful surprise off his face as he locked eyes with the teenager. Sensing she could read him, he allowed just he slightest cautionary glance to cross his features, hoping it wasn't enough to alert Sandoval and Zo'or of anything suspicious. Both Renee and Da'an watched this exchange, afraid of what it would come to. Da'an was greatly troubled by the fact that just a few words at this crucial moment could very well sentence his Protector to death, and he fought hard to suppress the urge to blush, which would only alert the other Taelon that something was going on.

Liam had been correct in his assumption, Jay was reading his reaction. Seeming to understand his desire to keep. . . she wasn't sure what from the others, she quickly recovered and ever so slightly switched her gaze over to Renee. To the casual observer it would seem she'd been looking at Renee the entire time. "I'm guessing that was you, Renee Palmer. You're the only woman in the group."

Renee was aware Jay was covering for Liam and was glad, but she was certainly surprised to find this girl knew her name. . . it now seemed she knew all of them somehow. And Renee wasn't the only one to come to that conclusion.

"How do you know who we are?" Sandoval asked. Although he tried to hide it, it was clear he was genuinely curious.

"And how were you able to call out to us in our own language?" Zo'or demanded, slightly unsettled.

Jay looked at them. "I'm getting to that, just hold on." They conceded. "Anyway, like I said I had a sort of vision, which is why you being isn't completely freaking me out," _at least to a large degree_, she added silently.

Zo'or jumped in again. "To what do you refer when you say 'vision'?"

"What I mean," she sighed, realizing the awkward explanation couldn't be put off much longer, "Is that. . . occasionally, I can see the future. And in my latest vision, you were in that future."

Sandoval's reply was laced with sarcastic, condescending humor - or as much as his CVI would allow. "So you're saying you're a psychic?"

Jay raised an eyebrow in slight annoyance. When he finished she put on an impossibly fake smile. "Well. . . " she replied in a sickly sweet voice. Then, in the blink of an eye the fake smile was wiped away and replaced by a stoic glare - he would not beat her in a battle of sarcasm. "No. I'm not a psychic. I don't actively try to see the future." No longer concerning herself with Sandoval, she gave a slight laconic chuckle. "And whenever I do, I fail miserably."

Despite her small show of attitudinal arrogance the group, confused by her seemingly contradictory statements, silently encouraged her to continue. She hesitated before speaking. "I am. . . a descendant of the Khayana, a group of people that came into existence about two thousand years ago. Our people feared persecution so everything about us is kept as secret as possible. My grandmother would be what you'd call the last _pure_ Khayanese woman in my line." More hesitation. "The Khayana had the gift to see the future. . . at least the women did. The men's power was severely lacking, limiting them to well-developed intuition, or instinct. And--"

Renee, now fairly confused, as the rest were, interrupted. "But you're saying you _can't_ see the future. . . ."

The girl hesitated once again, thinking. "It's a little more complicated than that. I can't actively try to see the future, it doesn't work like that. The gift the Khayana had was. . . they had no control over it, it's like the visions appeared randomly. . . but they weren't random, far from it. I've been told there were a few people who eventually developed control, but it took them years." She was getting more into her story now; she'd had hardly anyone to talk to about the Khayana, and those she could speak with already knew as much or more than she. This was her first time trying to explain her ancestry to unknowing individuals and she didn't was to screw up.

"When something of great importance was going to happen that would directly involve a Khayana, or a group, then that person, or sometimes a few people, would get a vision of the event. That happens with me." She sighed involuntarily. "Depending on importance, sometimes I'll get a small hint of. . . whatever. . . and other times I'll get a whole whack of information." Her dejected grin lacked any enthusiasm. "With you. . . it was a whole whack of info. Which generally means it's important."

Everyone was silent when she finished. Sandoval looked at them in turn, each had been listening with rapt attention. "Seems a little farfetched to me."

Jay flashed him an annoyed look before her face suddenly went blank, although not out of sarcastic intent this time. She frowned, looking at the floor, as if trying to remember something. More to herself she muttered, "Kat. . . Katya?" She nodded, then to the people in front of her she said, "Katya Petrenko."

There were a few shocked faces. "How do you know this name?" Da'an asked, the erratic movements of his hands evidence of his startled awe.

Believing her example worked, Jay replied, "When I get visions I don't just see what's going to happen. Like I said, I usually get information, which is how I knew your names--"

"And the Taelon phrase," Liam supplied; she nodded. They were now beginning to understand at least a little bit of what was going on. . . unfortunately, it was leaving more questions than answers.

"How much more of our language do you know?" Da'an asked, curious. He had only known of three individuals who had possessed the ability to understand his native tongue, two of which had possessed a CVI and the other being a Kimera hybrid.

"Nothing else that I know of. Sometimes when I get a lot of info, like I did with you," she continued, "My brain doesn't process it all. . .some of it gets stored until something triggers a memory. When I thought you didn't believe me," she looked pointedly at Sandoval, despite her belief that he wasn't the only one who hadn't believed her, "Katya's name popped into my mind." She hesitated yet again, unsure of how to proceed. "I know what the name Katya Petrenko means to _me_. The question is. . . " she glanced at everyone in turn, "What does it mean to _you_?"

Sandoval cleared his throat, keeping his uncertainty to himself. "Katya Petrenko was what you'd call a psychic, from Russia. Her ability was uncanny in most respects. However, a few years ago--"

Jay, who'd been lounging in the chair, suddenly bolted upright, her eyes wide. "DON'T finish that sentence." At Sandoval's confused expression she explained, "Unless it's _absolutely_ necessary, don't tell me any specifics about what's going to happen. You've done damage simply by being here. . . the less I know, the better." Sandoval nodded slightly, and the others came to an understanding.

"Well," Jay said, returning to the main topic. She relaxed against the chair again, fighting back a yawn. "I guess I should tell you. . . Katya Petrenko is Khayanese." To say there was silence would've been an understatement. It lasted for nearly a minute.

"Perhaps you should tell us mmore of this 'Khayana'," Da'an encouraged.

Jay was about to go on when she was cut off by a ringing noise. Crossing the room, she picked up the telephone, bringing a finger to her lips to make sure they remained silent. "Hey Mom. . . no, haven't checked the messages yet. . . uh," she looked down at her watch as the others in the room remained silent. "About twenty minutes ago. . . I walked. . . because cabs are expensive." She sighed. "About two and a half hours. . . I'm fine Mom. Listen, I gotta go, can I call you back later? Yeah. . . happy anniversary. . . bye." She placed the phone back in its cradle.

The teenager looked around. "Okay, you're probably hungry or something, and I know I am, so I'm gonna order some pizza and we can finish this conversation in a bit. You can stay here until you figure out how to get back, my parents should be gone the rest of the week."

She was about to turn when Sandoval's voice stopped her. "I believe it would be best to continue now," his tone indicating it was not a request.

She turned on him. . . he was really beginning to irritate her. "How about 'no'? I've just been teaching three hours straight, plus I had to take my own class this afternoon. Not to mention the couple of _hours_ it took me to walk home. I'm tired, hungry, and I need a shower. So if it's alright with _you_, I'll order the pizza, go take my shower, and THEN we'll talk more." She walked out of the room before anyone could respond.

The five of them watched her stalk out of the room in silence. Sandoval had to admit he did feel a slight bit of guilt. . . the girl had looked tired and he'd been more irritable than normal because of their predicament. He reminded himself that this girl had also been fairly forthcoming to their earlier questions.

"This human appears to have less control over her emotional outbursts than most of your species," Zo'or commented, earning a few annoyed - albeit hidden - looks from the others.

Liam waited a few seconds before standing. "Give me a few minutes, I'll try to talk to her," he told the others before heading in the direction he'd seen Jay going.

Passing through a small hallway he found her in what appeared to be the kitchen. She was talking on the phone but had her head in her hands, resting on a table. He stood just inside the doorway, waiting as she ordered the food. Handing up, Jay leaned her head as far back as it would go, sighed, and mumbled what, to Liam, sounded like, "Kovrahna."

Liam frowned at the oddly familiar word. He knew it was a curse, but he also knew it wasn't from any language on Earth - supposedly. Then something in his mind clicked, and he thought he understood. A little hesitantly he spoke in what he hoped was the same language. "Mya trevya?"

Jay's head shot up and over to him so fast she risked whiplash - obviously she was unaware of his presence. Her eyes were wide, startled that he'd asked her if she was okay. . . in _Khayanese_. Liam watched as her expression went from startled to suspicious as she regarded him.

She raised her chin and narrowed her eyes. "What the hell are you?" Liam shot her a questioning glance. Jay leaned to the side so she could look past him across the hall and into the other room, then beckoned him over to the table. She didn't think the others could hear, but better to be on the safe side. When he sat down she continued. "You're not Khayanese," she stated. He shook his head no. "Well then?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied. After the practice of countless denials, Liam was extremely good at the deception.

Jay sighed, clearly not amused. "You don't know. Well, lets see," she began, deadpan sarcasm dripping from every word. "You speak Khayanese but you're not one of us. You're obviously hiding something from at least _one_ person in there, and then there's the fact that, for some reason, I don't believe you're _completely_ human. Did I miss anything?"

Liam shot a concerned glance behind him at the door; Jay raised her eyebrows in interest. "Oh, so there _is_ something then. Care to share?"

He stared the girl in the eyes for several long seconds, thinking. Then, surprising not only Jay but himself as well, he spoke in the other language - Khayanese. "We should talk about this later."

Her eyes wide again, shock evident, Jay nodded slowly. "Very well," she replied, in the same language. Breaking eye contact she handed Liam a few slips of paper - money. He looked at it in amusement. "What?" she asked him, in english.

"What? Oh, nothing, I've just never--" he caught himself. "It's nothing."

Jay wasn't fooled, but she filed away that statement for later. "For the pizza," she said. "I'm going to take my shower, I assume you guys want to talk about your interesting situation, and it's best if I don't hear it." Liam nodded. Together they headed out of the room, and as Liam crossed the hall into the living room where the others were waiting, Jay headed in a different direction and up a flight of stairs.


	12. Suspicions

DISCLAIMER: The only thing I own is Jaden "Jay" Corbin, I don't even own the words. Only the order in which they were placed.

Okay! So…it's been almost a year since I uploaded this story, and for that I'm truly sorry to those who were waiting. It's been a hectic year, to say the least. But I will say this now, I do NOT plan on quitting on this one, however I'm getting ready to start university next month, so I'm not guaranteeing on how often updates can be made…but I will say this, they will certainly not take as long as this one did! I think I've rediscovered my focus with this story, and so, barring any serious attacks of WB (probably just jinxed myself there), I'm hoping it'll be easier.

For this part in particular, I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I wrote some of the parts within it, they seem a little out of place but whatever. I doubt it's been worth the wait, but hopefully you enjoy it!

Copyright © Jamie Zimmerman, 2003

CHAPTER 11

Despite her claims and protests, Jay paused before doing what she'd said she'd gone to do, wanting to hear what her "guests" were talking about. Although she relished the thought of a warm shower, she certainly could have gone without…but she needed a reason to leave them alone, and this seemingly innocent one was suspicious enough.

Halfway up the carpeted flight of stairs she stopped on a small landing and crouched near a vent on the wall that separated the enclosed stairway from the room the others were in. She had to strain a little to hear; her guests certainly did not _want _to be overheard.

~~~

Liam returned to his party and told them their "host" was just tired and, as could be expected, emotionally drained. He was careful not to say anything about what had transpired between the two of them, though.

"I say we stay," Renee piped up, "Hear her out."

Liam nodded from his leaning position against the wall, his arms crossed. "I agree. It might sound a little far-fetched, but so far we've got nothing else going for us. I say we listen, find out if she has anything that could help us. It's not like anyone else has a better plan at the moment, right?" he challenged, daring anyone of the other occupants in the room to volunteer an alternative.

No one did.

"I do not wish to remain here," Zo'or grumbled, looking about the room in mild disgust. "We know nothing of our current predicament."

Sandoval, who'd been gazing out a window at the tree-dotted field, turned back to face the group. "I agree, Zo'or," he stated. "We shouldn't stay here. We should listen to what she says, yes, but on _our_ terms." His expression turned to that of irritation. "We should not have to sit here in our current situation, we should be obtaining useful information. At present we are getting nowhere, and that _girl_ seems content with that."

"I wouldn't say that," Renee directed at him, slightly exasperated. "I'm not quite sure what it is, but that girl knows something, and she seems willing to help."

"Did she not say she _does not know _what brought us here?" Zo'or sneered.

Renee openly glared at the Taelon, the only one of them who could technically do so without much of a reprimand. "Yes, she did," her voice had dropped, but gained intensity. "However--"

"However," Da'an interjected, before Renee could say more; his stance was imposing, yet calm and collected. Ever the diplomat, he continued, "She may not provide us with the reason for our being here, but perhaps," Da'an paused to look at the occupants in the room, allowing graceful movements of his hands to unconsciously dramatize his next words. "Perhaps, she may provide us with the means to return to our own time."

Liam walked over to an empty chair and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees. He sighted and looked over at the group, his eyes resting on Zo'or. "The way I see it, we have nothing to lose."

Zo'or eyed Liam for a few moments; it was times like this, times when he knew the human was correct - any human, for that matter - that he loathed. 

Looking away, he noticed all eyes were on him; he was, technically, in charge, unless a matter of security popped up, in which case it would be in Zo'or's best interests to willingly allow Sandoval to take over - to a point. He would never relinquish control completely…and his protector was all to aware of that fact. But right now, the others were awaiting his decision.

The Synod Leader locked eyes with his parent. In addition to his heightened sense of self-preservation, there was something else pulling at him, a curiosity that would never have allowed him to leave without answers. Of that fact, Zo'or was sure.

Using his best abilities as an actor - something others tended to be ignorant of, which worked well to Zo'or's advantage - he regarded the group in front of him with obvious reluctance. "Very well, we shall remain here while it is in our best interests." He paused before adding, "And our safety." 

The others nodded in agreement, all the while the same thought running through their heads, _He really means _his_ interests and safety._

~~~

Jay knew she'd been egging them on since they had arrived at the house, but it had been done intentionally. 

She wanted them on edge, concerned and concentrating on more than one obstacle - it was safer for her this way, just in case she'd misinterpreted the visions she'd received…or worse, in the case of certain things she'd been shown, secrets from the future, if she had indeed interpreted them _correctly_. Some of the images were unsettling, to say the least…she wasn't even sure why she was supposed to help them - all she knew was that it was in her best interests, and the best interests of her planet, to help them at this moment in time. 

At this_ moment in time. _For some reason that thought stuck with her…it meant something important, something that would shape her own future. Something she couldn't ignore. If only she could lock herself in her room for the next week and sort through all that she'd been given, process it, as she usually did. But she hadn't had time before her guests had arrived, and she certainly couldn't do that now. Of course it hadn't help that she had _never _received anywhere close to the amount of information in any past experience that she had this time - it had been so much, in fact, that she had blacked out for several minutes when it she'd first received it less than a week ago. 

Jay was only glad she had been alone at the time. As it was, she still had the remnants of a headache. And now, she would have to wait until they were gone, whenever that would be, before she could figure out the larger picture, something she was loathe to admit that frightened her - it lessened her control of the situation. But she knew she had to help them, somehow. _At _this _moment in time._

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she tuned back to the last of their conversation. Hearing what she needed to, the girl straightened up, away from the inconspicuous vent. She stared off into space for a few seconds as she thought about what they'd said. Absently nodding to herself, content they weren't going to leave but that they were still uneasy about the whole situation, she got up and continued up the rest of the steps. It wouldn't do her any good to appear as though she had foregone a shower after the display she had provided earlier.

~~~

The group of five sat - or stood - in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. No one had anything much to say that could be said in such mixed company.

Finally, Sandoval addressed the group. "I'm going to survey this house, see what kind of security measures can be taken, just in case."

"A wise precaution, Agent Sandoval," Zo'or intoned, annoyed that his Protector had taken this long to act. Sandoval appeared slightly startled by his boss' reaction, but gave a curt nod, his expression indicated he knew this probably should have been done the second they'd arrived. Zo'or smiled on the inside, _good._

Liam had been staring at the floor, lost in his own thoughts. At Sandoval's declaration and Zo'or's approval, he looked up. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Sandoval looked at his subordinate, his irritation spawned by Zo'or's not-so-subtle reprimand. "Yes, Major, it is. We're vulnerable as it is, any knowledge we can gain will be to our advantage."

Renee raised an eyebrow. "You think she's going to take kindly to your snooping around her house?" Her sarcasm was held in check…for the most part.

Before Sandoval could reply, Da'an stated, "I do not think Ms. Corbin will enjoy this invasion of her privacy, but I believe she will understand that it is necessary."

Liam looked over at his Companion, a little surprised, but not by much. He'd been supported by Da'an too many times today, it had to give sometime. And despite the differences when compared the Zo'or, Da'an was still a Taelon.

Zo'or spoke next, his voice commanding. "I do not care whether she understands or not. I will not jeopardize my safety…or anyone else's," he added as an afterthought, a little too late, "Simply for the comfort of this human. Go, Agent Sandoval."

Sandoval nodded. "Yes, Zo'or. Major, stay here." With that, he left the room.

~~~

Jaden Corbin walked down the stairs, hair still wet, after the very quick shower she'd had to make her story believable. Thankful the stairs weren't creaking, she made her way completely silent - one didn't spend their whole life in traditional martial arts for nothing. As she came to the bottom of the steps, she heard faint footsteps at the opposite end of the hall. Curious, but not surprised, she quietly made her way to the dining room.

At the far end of the room she watched as Sandoval slowly ran a strange-looking, hand-held device across the wall, as if it were a small camera. Stopping just inside the doorway and folding her arms across her chest, she asked, "Find everything you're looking for?"

Sandoval spun around quickly and noted the girl at the opposite end of the room. The amusement that had been in her voice was certainly not evident in her expression, nor her stance. Jay had to give him credit - he kept his composure well.

But as she regarded him, Jay was bombarded with a strange image….

__

"Yes, sir!" They intoned loudly, in disciplined unison.

__

Two rows of children, each about ten kids long, all looking between the ages of seven and fifteen, a mix of both boys and girls. They appeared to be in some sort of warehouse, there were people going about their business in the background, paying the children no attention. 

They stood in perfect columns, hands behind their backs, heads forward, legs held fast in their stance. They were at parade rest. All were in plain black jumpsuits, with a strange, unidentifiable purple symbol above the left breast.

A large man in a black uniform walked along the front of the lines with military precision, his eyes locking onto the gazes of each of the children as he passed them. For their part, the kids never moved, their eyes remained locked ahead of them. As he passed one girl in particular, the focus came on her…she was one of the younger ones, perhaps ten at the most, with long jet-black hair pulled into a plain ponytail behind her. Her stormy-grey eyes were hard, just like the rest of her facial features. Jay didn't know who this girl was, but she instantly recognized those eyes….

The focus of the vision jumped again. Standing at the back of the warehouse stood Agent Sandoval. He watched the children, approval at their disciplined demeanours evident on his face.

As quickly as the vision came, Jay lost it. Shaking her head, she realized Sandoval was talking to her. 

"…Realized we would want to make sure of our safety."

Quickly surmising what he had said, she responded, "Of course. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't try to look around sooner." She watched as momentary irritation flashed in his eyes before he suppressed it. She was glad…something about him had bothered her from the start, and this latest bit of information her brain had processed only served to intensify that feeling.

"I think it would be a good idea to continue with your story now," he told her, his expression hard.

She allowed the corners of her mouth to turn slightly in a small grin, equally as hard. "Sure. That is, if you think you can tear yourself away from my mother's fine china long enough." He kept his expression neutral, she had to give him credit. "Just think of that safety violation," she continued as she turned and left the room, "If someone broke a plate and came at you with those sharp edges…."

Sandoval allowed an exasperated sigh escape him. H didn't know how long he could keep his control with that irritating _girl_ around…she was worse than Kincaid, a lot worse. Regaining his composure, he followed after her. He could strangle her _after_ she told them what she knew.

~~~

Just as Jay came to the entrance to the living room where she'd left them, so noticed Da'an and Zo'or standing outside the doorway, looking a little apprehensive.

More confused than anything, she approached them and asked, "Do you guys _want_ me to give you the grand tour of my house? Because I will, if that'll make things easier…."

Zo'or just glared at her, clearly not amused. She couldn't be sure, but Jay thought she heard him mutter something of a derogatory comment aimed at "humans."

Da'an, however, was more forgiving. "I believe your 'Pizza Man' is here."

The girl just let out a tired chortle, and walked past them into the room. At the front door she watched as Renee took the offered box and Liam struggled with the currency in his hand. 

When he was finished, Renee elbowed him. "Tip him," she whispered.

"Oh, right," was the reply as he handed the man at the door the rest of the change in his hand. Renee just shook her head.

"Thank you," the man replied, and left.

As the two came back into the room, they noticed their host standing there. "Just leave it on the table," Jay told them. "I'll be right back."

She left the room and, passing the two aliens who'd been joined by Sandoval, said, "I think it's safe now," before continuing to the kitchen. She grabbed some plates and water bottles and headed back.

A few minutes later, all four humans were eating their pizza. Sandoval had initially refused, but then muttered something about "keeping our strength up" and grabbed a plate.

Jay gestured to the two Taelons, who'd both taken the chairs in the room as opposed to the couch - they appeared more comfortable this way. "I don't suppose you eat."

Zo'or looked away in disgust. "We do not."

"No," Da'an supplied, "We do not receive our energy through ingestion."

Jay just nodded. "Well, I don't really know what I can do, but if you need anything…."

Da'an inclined his head. "We thank you for your offer."

A few minutes past in awkward silence. Finally Zo'or couldn't stand it and said, "This is a waste of time. We demand to know what you know. Now." Jay raised an eyebrow.

Da'an was quick to intervene, not wanting to offend this being who was trying to help them. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about this young human was drawing him, he knew she was important. He did not want to make her an enemy. "Please, forgive us. We are simply concerned about what is happening. We wish answers to the many questions we have."

Jay looked Da'an in the eyes, and for a second she seemed entranced. She realized they felt like her - confused, concerned, and as if they were slowly losing control of the situation. Shaking her head and blinking, she brought herself back to reality. "Very well, I'll tell you what I can.

"My father is my parent from the Khayana line," she began, figuring it was time to quit beating around the bush and just jump in - she'd left them hanging long enough. The others were initially startled at how fast she'd began, but quickly put it aside and listened to her tale. "However, he turned his back on the teachings and traditions decades ago, when he was about my age. He has, to date, refused to acknowledge that part of him…and of me. My grandmother, his mother, died before she could tell me anything herself. She left me some old diaries, a bunch of notebooks, even some old Khayanese texts…but you can only learn so much from books. I haven't even told my father I have them, so I can't exactly go to him." There were a couple of unconscious nods from the human members of the group.

"About 2,000 years ago," Jay continued, "The Khayana clan was formed. Like I said, the women had powerful abilities to see future events, while the men's were limited. They formed into a group, naming themselves after the first woman with the ability, and supposedly the most powerful to date, Khayana. The group became nomads, sort of like the Gypsies, they travelled all across Europe, and to parts of northern Africa and western Asia…possibly as far as the Persian empire. Every single person who had Khayanese abilities was found in the group, and as they--"

"Are you positive all those who possessed this ability were found amongst the same people?" Zo'or asked, skeptical and just the bit arrogant. Jay simply nodded. "Evolution is a complex process. It is impossible to be certain," the Taelon added, sure he'd caught a hole in her story already.

She shook her head, biting back a sarcastic reply. _He doesn't know,_ she told herself, another piece of the puzzle falling into place. _No wonder they don't know about us._ Jay's eyes flickered to Liam for a split second. _But then why does _he_?_

Jay took a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing. "No, it's not impossible. The Khayanese ability didn't evolve naturally…we had help. From the likes of you," her gaze was now directed at the two Taelons.

The eyes of the others followed the girl's to the alien members of their group, and they all, including Zo'or himself, wore confused expressions. But not Da'an. He locked eyes with this enigma of a human, and she watched as realization dawned in his blue eyes.

Da'an's voice was soft, mixed with a bit of reverence, as he simply stated, "Ma'el."

~~~

TBC

~~~

I hope not all interest in this story has been lost. And like I said, some areas of this part were a little off, but I hope you still enjoyed it. 


	13. Genetic Revelations

DISCLAIMER: The only thing I own is Jaden "Jay" Corbin, I don't even own the words. Only the order in which they were placed.

Sorry for the delay. This was ready to go about 2 weeks ago…you can thank Bell Sympatico for making me order my new internet service _three_ times!

Okay, some notes for this part. Firstly, from now on, unless otherwise stated, the English translations of all Khayanese words/phrases will be in ~ ~

Secondly, I kind of had my way with the genetic stuff, and I'm almost positive I screwed up somewhere, so please don't analyze it, just accept it, lol. It's been awhile since I've touched on that specific area of genetics, so I'm a bit rusty.

Thirdly, I borrowed a small idea from the book, The First Protector (James White), and if you've read that book you can probably figure out what it was. However, I only used it as a beginning, and I have gone beyond it's original context and created my own plot out of it.

Lastly, as you may have noticed, the chapters now have new names. I did that because it was becoming a little confusing, and was just plain annoying me, lol. For the most part the names are permanent, but a couple I may end up changing later.

Okay, enough of that. Enjoy.

****

CHAPTER 12

Jay kept eye contact and nodded. The others in the room could only watch in stunned silence as the human and the Taelon stared at each other in understanding, beyond belief. 

"Yes. Ma'el," the girl answered. "I don't know how he did it, the first Khayana never did either, but somehow he changed us, gave the women incredible mental abilities, and then natural evolution - and I guess you could call it _forced _selective breeding - over the last two millennia has brought us to this point," she gestured to her own brain. "The same happened with the men, only in a lesser capacity. The main reason the men were given any power at all was so that offspring of two Khayana were guaranteed to have the power."

Liam spoke up. "But even with one parent, couldn't it still be passed on?"

Renee stared ahead, her mind wandering back to high school biology. "The gene for the Khayana ability is sex-linked, isn't it?"

Jay grinned slightly. "Uh huh…. The gene is on the X-chromosome. In order to receive the full ability their must be two genes, found on both X-chromosomes, working together. That's why males are only in limited capacity when it comes to their mental abilities."

Liam watched as the girl explained this last part, and to him she appeared less certain about what she was saying now than she had about anything else she had told them; her voice seemed to hold less confidence than it had previously. He didn't know why, but he knew that for some reason, that was important.

"But could that not restrict your population?" Zo'or asked finally, a hint of genuine curiosity, while skillfully masked, was still present.

All pretense of attitude or sarcasm was noticeable absent when Jay, simply and introspectively, nodded. "Yes. In the case of the males, genetically speaking, they have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the Khayana gene if only the mother had it, since they'd only need _one_ marker. However, in order for a female to have her ability, both parents _must_ have the gene - in the mother's case, she must have _at least_ one X-chromosome marker. But then that also decreases the chances of a female offspring being fully Khayanese, since that same 50/50 chance applies when cellular meiosis takes place - half the mother's ova will contain that gene, and the other half won't. So a daughter with Khayanese ability must have a Khayanese father, _and_ either a full-blooded Khayanese mother or be the offspring of that first half of the mother's ova containing the gene."

As Jay surveyed the others in the room, to say she was met with raised eyebrows and inclined heads would have been an understatement. For the most part they understood what she was saying, but it was strange hearing it from a young girl.

"What? It's in the texts…." Still, they stared. She sighed, muttering, "And they told me Punnet Squares were useless…." The others looked at her, slight irritation showing as she wandered off-topic.

"Anyway," she said, returning her attention back to the others. "It basically means that the only way to guarantee the Khayana line was for my ancestors to mate within their own population. According to what's been written, when your Ma'el…I guess you'd say he _created_ us, he made sure to transform enough people to allow for a self-sustaining population, and made sure those first people knew they had to remain together in order to continue on their legacy, and fulfill their 'destiny'. One passage even mentioned something about a long-awaited prophecy in which the Khayana would play a major role, but it doesn't give any specifics."

Still no one said anything. They continued to stare, either at Jay herself or off into space, contemplating what she was saying, absorbing the information, and contemplating just what it meant in the grand scheme of things. But one thing they didn't need words to convey was their desire for her to continue - the expectant silence in the room did that quite nicely on its own.

Jay took a deep breath, knowing they probably wanted answers that she didn't have. There was only so much more she could tell them about her heritage, and she doubted any of it could help them with their unusual predicament. But she'd try, maybe something would make sense to them.

"And so," she began once more, "After Ma'el had _helped_ a good number of people evolve mentally to achieve this ability - I'm not sure of the exact number, it was never recorded - beginning with Khayana herself, my people formed their group and swore themselves to secrecy. They knew that if word got out about them there would be many who would want to exploit their abilities or, most likely, simply kill them if they considered them a threat. 

"That was why they became nomads, they wouldn't stay in once place too long because of the risk of being found out. Eventually they broke themselves down into smaller bands so they would seem less conspicuous, and because it was simply easier to travel that way. The groups would occasionally meet up, exchange information, experiences…even people, as a way to help increase the populations, keep ties, that sort of thing. After a few centuries they had spread themselves all throughout Europe and much of the Middle East, as well as Northern Africa, as I believe I mentioned earlier. From what I've read of my grandmother's notes, our line originated from one of the Mediterranean bands."

Again, she was met with silence as they digested the information. She took note that, despite their expressions of amazement and intrigue, it didn't appear as though any of the human and Taelon group doubted her anymore…or, at least, they didn't show it. The silence extended for a few minutes, and the teenager tried not to let them see the slight anxiousness she was experiencing; she was tense, on edge. She'd never mentioned the Khayana to anyone but a select few, and they had known as much, if not more, than she had, and Jay had never even _attempted_ to describe their history, not even in practice.

"I have a question," Renee began almost timidly, breaking the silence. Jay nodded. "If Ma'el provided enough people with the genetic markers necessary to sustain your population…well, that would have to be a good number. So does that mean your population has been increasing over the years?"

Jay watched the reactions of the others to this question. For the most part the humans simply seemed intrigued, but the Taelons were a different story. The two aliens hid it well, but she could tell the idea that an entire population of essentially _enhanced_ humans could be out there, created by none other than one of their own, concerned them. _Sadly,_ Jay thought to herself, _There isn't much for them to be concerned about, not anymore._

Out loud, she told them, "It did, in the beginning. For over a thousand years our population slowly but steadily increased. But as time went on and civilizations sprouted, the nomadic life of my people became understandably undesirable." She said that last part with a hint of sarcasm. "Gradually people began to leave the bands and settle within society. They understood the need to keep the secrecy of the Khayana, but other than that, many of them dropped all customs and traditions of my people…including our 'selective breeding'. 

"They thought that our having to compromise our lives on the off chance we _might _somehow be involved in a prophecy no one was even sure was true, wasn't fair - and they believed that if in truth there was a destiny we were to play out, that fate would intervene. In the meantime, they wanted their own lives. And so, fewer full-blooded Khayana were born, and so on. Today, only about a handful of true Khayana still exist in this world, scattered around. But some of us, we still follow some of the old traditions."

Zo'or looked up. "For instance, keeping your peoples' knowledge in secrecy," he shot.

Jay glared at him. "I'm making an exception. For some reason I was compelled to tell you, and if I've learn anything over the years, it's to trust what's in my head, no matter how strange it might sound."

"This is all well and good," Sandoval intervened, knowing the look on Zo'or's face and knowing what could happen if he didn't change the subject. "But I fail to see the relevance in all of this. We still have no idea what happened to us or how we got here." He looked at the girl with a mask of mild indifference - best not to let her know how much he wanted that very information. "Unless I'm missing something."

Da'an inclined his head. "As much as your explanation has intrigued me," this earned him as close to an exasperated expression as a Taelon could manage from Zo'or, "I can fathom nothing useful to our predicament in what you have said."

Jay shrugged, taking the unintended insult. She didn't really care what they perceived as informative - she'd done what she thought she was supposed to do to help unfold whatever was supposed to happen as a result of her latest vision. "My people adopted the saying from one of the earliest Khayana, Phylatos: _All seemingly useless information will play it's part eventually._" 

As she said this she allowed a meaningful gaze to lock momentarily with Liam, and then Renee, before training her eyes on the group as a whole. No one but the two in question appeared to have noticed anything - she hoped. "Translated, of course," Jay added. "Basically, even the dumbest bit of info can help you somewhere along the line."

"Yes," Zo'or replied, annoyed at being given a life lesson by a young human girl. "However, we need the knowledge that can help us right now."

That said, no one in the room had anything to volunteer.

~~~

The night grew late as the humans and aliens from the future tossed around theories as their 'host' sat in the corner and tried to read, not being able to contribute much to their conversation. But that was all they were - theories. They had narrowed down the list of possibilities and had tentatively agreed that the blast the shuttle had been hit by just before jumping to inter-dimensional had something to do with it, but exactly how it had happened, and how to reverse it, had yet to be explained.

Finally agreeing that, at least for the human members of their group, nothing more could be accomplished unless they could get some sleep, they decided to call it a night. Da'an and Zo'or, while not having access to energy showers, had stated that they would attempt to conserve what energy they had. Jay had told them that if they wanted to, they could browse through the books kept in the adjoining room for something to do. Da'an said his thanks, and both Taelons left the room.

Sandoval and Liam had refused the girl's offer of a bed. They would take turns on watch, just in case, but they would remain in the living room, close to their Companions. Renee accepted, however, and Jay led her up to the second floor, offering her the use of her parents' bed. 

Jay herself did not want to sleep. She wanted to keep an eye on her guests, not sure if she could trust them…she wanted to, but something was giving her an unsettling feeling. She also didn't want them to realize that she didn't trust them. Finally, the teenager decided that she would stay in her room and attempt to work through some of the images stored in her brain, hoping that would keep her awake, at least for a little while. She also set her alarm to wake herself up early, just in case….

~~~

Early the next morning, Liam opened his eyes slowly against the bright sun cutting in through the window. He was on the couch with a thin blanket draped over his fully clothed form. 

Sitting up slowly, Liam gazed about the room and watched as Sandoval sat on a chair at the far side, looking out the window…just where he had been three hours earlier when they had switched watch duty.

"Morning, Sandoval," he said, a bit groggily, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Major," came the stoic reply. Sandoval did not move from his position.

Swinging his legs over the side of the couch, Liam leaned forward from his sitting position to stretch his back out. As he sat back up, he looked over at Sandoval once more and watched as he brought a mug up to his lips, steam rising from it.

"Coffee?" Liam asked, curious.

Sandoval fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Our 'host' was up early this morning."

"Well," Liam replied, standing up and catching the annoyed tone in his colleague's voice; as he passed his fellow companion, he shot, "How _nice_ of her." He continued on and out the room.

Sandoval gave an inaudible sigh. Only up for a few minutes, and already Kincaid was getting on his nerves.

Liam made his way towards the kitchen of Jay's house, passing the room where the two Taelons had last been. Looking in, he saw both sitting in chairs somewhat awkwardly. Zo'or appeared to be resting, or at least as well as he could without the aid of an energy shower. Da'an was reading a hardcover book, but looked up as Liam passed. The Companion inclined his head in greeting and turned his attention back to the page in front of him. Liam knew very well the reason why Da'an wasn't meditating as his fellow Taelon needed to in order to conserve his energy, but he dare not even think of it in Zo'or's, or any other Taelon's, presence, at the risk of condemning his own Companion. 

Liam continued on into the kitchen and, noticing the coffee-maker, complete with several empty mugs sitting beside it, went and poured himself a cup. He wandered to the other end of the room with his beverage to look out the window, noting for the first time how nice it was in this area. The fields of tall grass bordered the backyard, and the yard itself sloped down to form a bit of a ravine before rising back up to form the top of a grassy hill. The trees forming wide borders around the fields were the beginning of the wooded area they had crashed into the previous day.

Turning to look out a side window, he saw a figure - Jay - outside on a relatively flat area of land, exercising. It took him a few seconds to recognize what it was she was doing; as he drank his coffee he watched as the young teenager practiced various martial arts patterns.

Finishing his coffee, he walked to the back door and stepped outside, finding his way over to where she was practicing. He knew Jay noticed his arrival, but she made no acknowledgement, she was too focused on her movements. 

After another half a minute or so she finished and, returning to a traditional ready stance, bowed formally. Turning to Liam, slightly out of breath, she said, "Morning."

"Good morning," he answered. "I'm impressed."

She raised her eyebrows. "What, that? Just takes practice."

"Yes, but you've got good discipline, good concentration."

She grinned. "Yeah, that takes a whole lot practice too, believe me." Liam nodded. "You seem to know a bit about Tae Kwon Do," she observed, "Have you studied it before?"

"Um, no, but mother did for a little while when she was younger, and she sort of…taught me what she remembered," he decided for a half-truth. "I think I recognized that last one you did."

Jay nodded. "You might have, that was a less advanced one." An uneasy silence descended. "Did you want me to teach you a pattern or two?"

"Uh, sure," Liam replied. "Maybe I'll remember something."

"Okay, we'll start with the first of the eight _Taegeuks_…."

~~~

Just over an hour later, nearing 7:45am, Jay and Liam returned inside the house after going over five of the eight patterns. 

"You're a quick study," the girl was saying. "Your memory is almost as good as mine." 

Liam gave a small smile. "Yes, well I also had a vague idea of the first three you showed me."

"Yeah, but still…."

As they passed the stairs on their way into the house, Renee made her way down, looking like she hadn't slept all that well, which Liam guessed was to be expected - he hadn't had much sleep, either.

"There's coffee, if you want some," Jay offered.

Renee smiled, "Thank you."

"Come on," Liam said, "I'll show you." He nodded in Jay's direction and saw her head up the stairs, presumably to change clothes.

Once around the corner of the kitchen, Liam headed to where the mugs sat on the counter. But before he could reach them, Renee pulled his arm back and stopped him. Before he could ask, she pulled him into a tight embrace, resting her head on his shoulder. After a moment's confusion, he brought his arms up to hug her back, noting her relieved sigh. Something wasn't right.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

It took her a few seconds to respond. "Yeah, I guess so. It's just…."

"What?" he prodded.

"It's stupid, really," she responded. "Just being here was unsettling enough, but I had this really weird, disturbing dream last night."

Liam pulled away slightly so he could look at her, but kept his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Nightmare?"

Renee took a deep breath. "I don't know…not really scary or anything, but definitely disturbing. I guess the combination of our weird situation and my weird dream just got to me, that's all."

Liam looked at her for a long moment. "You want to tell me about it?"

She shrugged, a little uncomfortable. Renee didn't like talking about her dreams or inner thoughts with anyone, she felt they were too personal to share. But looking into Liam's eyes, she realized that he was only trying to understand, to give his support

"Well," Renee began, deciding it couldn't hurt - there hadn't been much actual substance the dream, aside from the undercurrents of anxiousness she'd received when waking, "I was in a park at night, just walking. I thought I was alone, until several hooded figures appeared. They asked for my name, said they needed information. I actually thought they were going to attack me, and when I went for my weapon I realized I didn't have it." 

At this point Renee was looking down, trying to remember the details, so she did not see the surprised and concerned look cross Liam's face as she described the very familiar dream. He didn't say anything, though, just listened as she continued on with the dream.

"But before they tried anything," Renee was saying, "Something drew their attention, and they all ran past me. When I looked at what they were going after, I saw a young girl, she couldn't have been more than ten or eleven, standing on a park bench. The men went to surround the bench, and I ran after them, wanting to know what was happening.

"It was obvious she was who they were after, but I don't know why. When I got there they paid no attention to me, they were just circling in, like a pack of wolves, on the little girl." Renee looked up at him, confusion evident. "But, the weirdest thing was, she wasn't scared, or at least she didn't look like it. She stared right at me, ignoring the others, and I saw anger, annoyance, irritation…and acceptance. But no fear."

When she was quiet for a moment, Liam asked, a little too curiously, "What else?"

Renee sighed in thought. "Nothing really, that's where it ended, the hooded figures circling the girl, who was looking at me. I woke up then…. But there was something, it seems kind of odd, though." At Liam's questioning glance, she supplied, "The girl's eyes…they were an unusual shade of blue-gray, they reminded me of clouds. For some reason, they stood out, apart from everything else, even in the dark."

Liam frowned, thinking. It wasn't the same dream, not the one that he'd had regularly for the last several weeks. The one that he had not, thankfully, had last night - it wouldn't have done any good to have bolted awake from a nightmare with Sandoval in the room. But there were too many similarities, especially near the beginning. The hooded figures asking for information, then circling around to attack…but Renee's dream had ended differently than his. They never attacked her, and there was no little girl in his. But despite this, although he couldn't prove it, Liam had a gut feeling that the two dreams were somehow linked.

"…Okay?"

Liam broke from his reverie at the sound of Renee's voice. "Hmm?"

Renee looked a little concerned. "I asked if you were okay."

"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry. Just thinking," he replied. Not wanting to concern her right now, not until some of this strange situation they found themselves in was resolved, he decided not to mention his own dreams of late. "Maybe we should go talk to Sandoval, see what our next step is."

Renee nodded, glad to get away from the subject of her dream. "Yeah, just let me get some coffee first, I don't think I can start off a morning with him without it." Liam just grinned.

~~~

After an hour of discussion that led nowhere once again, the group decided it would be best to go back to the shuttle and do a more thorough assessment, perhaps be able to discover something about whatever brought them to this place. 

The two Taelons had been supplied with large, dark blankets to cover themselves with until they arrived at the shuttle to avoid being seen. Once they were near where Liam said the shuttle was, Jay said she wouldn't go any further, believing it would be best for her not to be involved more than she had to. The rest of the group continued on to the shuttle while she headed back towards the road.

Entering the clearing that their crash had created, Liam immediately went to the pilot's seat and activated the power, running a system's check. He then proceeded to download any and all data the shuttle had recorded into his global. The two Taelons followed behind, while Sandoval and Renee walked in opposite directions around the craft.

Liam had just finished the download when Renee and Sandoval entered the craft.

"Well, one good thing," Renee stated, "The ride might be bumpy, but it looks like it'll fly again."

"Good," Liam replied.

"Yes, however," Sandoval interjected, "We should not attempt to go anywhere until we've figured out how to return to our own time, it would only arouse unwanted attention."

"In that case," Da'an began, "Allow Zo'or and myself to work with the sensor information, perhaps we can discover what went wrong during our flight." The humans nodded, and walked outside of the shuttle, allowing the Taelons to work. 

Sandoval turned to Liam. "Major, we are even more vulnerable out in the open. Ms. Palmer and I will stay here, I want you to go back the way we came and keep watch near the road, make sure no one comes near this area."

Liam regarded Sandoval, and realized the deeper meaning behind his words. "We can trust her, you know."

Sandoval inclined his head. "Of course, Major. See to it that we can." With that, he left to survey the surrounding area.

Liam turned the Renee and sighed. "See you later."

"Have fun." He nodded and turned to leave.

After several minutes of fast walking, Liam came across Jay not far from the edge of the road that rose up from the woods, separating one side of the forest from the other. She was seated on a fallen log, eyes closed, brow furrowed. Hearing him approach, she opened her eyes and said, "Checking up on me?" 

He gave an apologetic smile. "Yes, unfortunately."

She shrugged. "I guess I was expecting it. I'd probably do it myself, in your position."

"Well, I want you to know that it's not me. I _want_ to trust you. It's just--"

"The others," she finished for him. "Don't worry, I understand. I want to trust you guys, too. But it's not so easy, is it?"

Liam looked down at the leaf-strewn ground. "No, I guess it isn't." I looked back up at her. "They don't trust your motives…and as much as I'd like to say that _I _do, there's just too many unanswered questions. I really do believe that you want to help us…but I can't help but feel that you have another reason, one you're not telling us."

There was a long, uneasy silence. She watched him for several long moments, contemplating her next move. He tried not to fidget under her scrutiny, wondering what was going on in that seemingly complex brain of hers. 

Liam was about to ask what she was staring at when Jay spoke up and asked, "Do you need permission from your puppet-masters to take a walk?"

Caught off-guard by her request, he paused and glanced back over his shoulder (despite the fact that he could not see anything but forest cover) then to her once more. He saw the determined look in her eyes - there was something she needed to speak to him about, and as perceptive as she was, she knew it could not be done at the risk of being overheard. With a barely visible nod, he said, "Let's go."

They made their way up to the road and walked for a couple minutes in silence. After they were some distance away from where they had exited the brush, Liam finally glanced at her - she was obviously tense, staring down at the ground, walking like an automaton.

Guessing why she had asked he accompany her, he said, "There's more to your story than you're telling us." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

She nodded absently. "_Jaba_," she answered. ~Yes_~. _As Jay continued walking, Liam had stopped short. After a few steps, the young girl turned around to face him, a questioning look in her eyes.

Liam looked down for a minute, a look of consternation momentarily crossing his face. He looked back up and asked, "_Coma tana nedjé , cameh lanesh Khayana?" _~Why have you spoken Khayana only to me?~

Jay looked momentarily surprised, but not nearly to the extent she had been before. Switching back to English, she gave a half-hearted grin and said, "You see, how the hell do you do that?" Liam just stared back. She shook her head and began pacing the width of the road slowly. 

"I want to know why someone who has apparently never heard of my people before can possibly speak our language. It's not like it's the easiest thing to learn from a book, even if you could get your hands on one, which I seriously doubt you could."

Liam was about to respond when a thought occurred to him. "Well, how can _you _speak it?"

Jay immediately stopped and whipped her eyes back onto him. "Wh-what? What do you mean?"

"Well," Liam began, knowing there was more to this…a lot more. "You said your grandmother died before she could help you, and your father wants nothing to do with your people…so who taught you? And if another member of your people _did_ teach you, why did you say you've had to learn all your peoples' knowledge on your own?"

The young girl sighed and tipped her head back, eyes closed. "I should have known," she mumbled to herself, "Things were going just a little _too_ smoothly." 

She glanced back at her companion, figuring she might as well tell him - she doubted he'd let her get away with changing the topic at this point. "No one had to teach me. All Khayana have the ability to speak our language from birth, but it takes some sort of reminder or stimulation to allow for that process - usually when a young child hears their parents speaking it. However, I didn't begin to understand it until I was older, when I looked at the symbolic Khayana script in a few of the texts."

Liam was quiet for a moment. Finally, he said, "I take it that was Ma'el's doing also?"

Jay just shrugged. "I guess so. No one really knows how we know our language, but that's probably right. I have a feeling there are some things my people are just not meant to understand." 

Liam nodded, filling that comment away for later. 

"So," Jay said, turning the tables on him, "You never answered _my_ question."

Liam looked hard at her. _How much should I tell her? _He knew he wouldn't get away with a fake answer, she was perceptive that way. He decided a half-truth would work. "Sort of the same way you do…I just needed to hear you speak something, and it comes to me."

She looked at him, incredulous. "I said _one_ word!"

"You certainly have a good memory." Jay completely ignored the comment and just stared at Liam, who looked a little uncomfortable. "Yes, well…guess that's all it took…."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Really. Question. How, exactly, are you able to do this?"

"I, uh…" he was using all his control to keep his face neutral at this point, "I can't really get into that at the moment."

Arms crossed, the girl gave him an exhausted look. "Is that so."

"Well, you _are_ the one that said it would be best that we not give you anything that pertains to the future."

"And I suppose that you knowing a completely foreign and uniquely complex language - so complex, in fact, that no one has, to my knowledge, has never been spoken by anyone other than Khayana for the last _two thousand_ years - is the solely the result of a decade or two from now?"

"Yes." Liam did his best to appear convincing. He also knew that he had failed miserably at it.

Jay just shook her head. "Yeah, right. And my mother _actually_ believes I'm going into politics." By the disgusted, fleeting look that crossed her features, Liam realized she detested that idea…but that wasn't what had caught his attention.

Jay had mentioned her mother, and for some reason that stuck in his mind. I was important, something about her mother meant something, something that was just out of his grasp. It was extremely significant…. Suddenly, thanks to his alien heritage, Liam's incredible memory brought up an image, and a voice - Jay's - when she had first began to tell them about herself.

Jay was about to say something more to him when she noticed his eyes going wide in realization as he locked gazes with her. She wasn't sure what it was, but she had a feeling she had just screwed up.

"You're not Khayana either, are you?" he asked, but it was more of a surprised statement than anything else. The girl in front of him had a very confused expression on her face, like she had no idea what he was talking about…but he could also see the smallest hint of nervousness. "At least," Liam continued, "Not completely."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, but Liam noticed the lack of defense in her voice - she wasn't denying what he was saying. She was testing him, to see if he had it right.

"Your mother," he stated, trying to explain his sudden insight. "She wasn't…. What I mean is, you said your _grandmother_ was the last pure Khayana in your line. So your mother couldn't have been one." He looked at her to gauge her reaction - Jay just stood there, Liam barely caught the short nod. 

"So," he continued quietly, her silent revelation almost as shocking to him as his own conclusion, "You're father…he wasn't--"

"No," Jay interrupted, equally quiet. "My father is Khayana. Both my grandmother and grandfather were full Khayana." 

"But--"

"What I actually said, earlier," Jay again interrupted, hoping to alleviate his confusion, "Was that my grandmother was the last pure Khayanese _woman _in my line." 

Liam nodded, comprehending. "So, that would make you only half-Khayana?" 

"Yep," she replied, voice lacking a single discernable emotion. 

"Oh," Liam began, allowing a hint of annoyance to filter into his voice as he narrowed his eyes, "You neglected to mention that part earlier."

Jay allowed a small, amused grin to cross her face, but anyone could tell by looking into her eyes that she was anything but. "No offence to you and your friends, but I must have slipped up at least twice during my whole history lesson. I'm surprised it's taken you this long to figure it out." 

Liam conceded that point and remained silent, thinking. Jay did not really want to go into this subject now, but knew instinctively that he wouldn't let it drop.

Liam did not disappoint. "But then…the abilities you claim to have…how is that possible? From what you've said, it--"

"I know what I said," she cut him off, a little quickly. She had moved to lean against the trunk of a tree growing close to the edge of the road, he eyes downcast. 

After a few minutes of nothing, Liam was about to insist she explain when she offered, "You're right…I only have one X-chromosome marker. And before you ask…I don't know."

Liam just stared at her, trying to wrap his mind around the contradicting statements she was making. He suddenly remembered the expression on her face the day before, when she was explaining the nature of the Khayanese genetic make-up. If there was any truth to what she was telling him now, the uncertain expression she wore the previous day now made perfect sense - she would be living proof that a key element of her people's beliefs was wrong.

Jay pushed herself off from the tree and started a slow pace, arms crossed in what could only be considered a defensive position. "I, uh…" she started to say, keeping her eyes on the ground, "My grandmother was considered to be very powerful when it came to her abilities. The mother of my best friend, who has been the only one whose been able to help me at all in Khayana-related matters, is one of our most powerful…and, unfortunately, I can say that with confidence because, as I mentioned yesterday, there aren't many of us left."

She paused for a long time before continuing. Stopping, she looked at him, her gaze more piercing than he could ever imagine anyone was capable of. Liam was a little uncomfortable with the stare, but tried not to show it. Finally, she spoke. "They were full-blooded Khayana. I am not. But I am considered as powerful, if not _more_ so, than either of them." 

Liam just shook his head, both shocked and amazed. "But…how is that possible?" he repeated.

The girl shook her head slowly. Her face contorted into a look of disgust. "Among my people, I am called…." She looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"What?" Liam asked gently, realizing that, despite how old she sounded, Jay was still just a young teenaged girl who appeared out of place with her heritage, something he could relate to. "What do they call you?"

Jay looked up at him, compelled by the sincerity in his voice. Realizing that he only wanted to understand her better, and that she _wanted_ him to, for reasons she didn't yet understand, she took a deep breath. 

Through clenched teeth, she forced, "_Bakano_." 

Softly, Liam translated, "Anomaly."

~~~

TBC

~~~

Hope you enjoyed it. I've started university now, so I'm not sure when I'll get to post next, and for that I've made this part exceptionally long. I promise not to forget about this fic, and if anyone notices that it's been a (reasonably) long time since I've updated, please feel free to e-mail me and kick my butt for motivation - if I know you're waiting, I'll set aside more time to write.

Okay…it might seem that I've put a little too much detail into some aspects, both in this chapter and in previous ones…but always remember what the Great Phylatos said….


	14. Bakano

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, not even the words. Only the order in which they were placed.

Well, I said I would post again eventually! And here it is…sorry for the delay. Happy holidays, and to the LiRay group…enjoy your present!

CHAPTER 13

As Liam looked into her eyes, he could tell that this young teen was scared of what she was implying. And he felt the need to state that fact. "Because of this," he began gently, understanding, "You're not sure where you belong. And this frightens you."

"You're damned right it _frightens_ me," she mocked, her sarcasm returning in full force. Dropping her head back, she turned her face skyward and stated, "It scares the hell out of me!" 

Pausing to collect herself, Jay took a few deep breaths and turned back to face Liam. In a quieter voice, she said, "I was completely unprepared for everything. If I had been full-blooded, no matter how my father felt, _someone_ would have been there to teach me. My grandmother would have insisted she at least be able to guide me, or someone else would have after she died. But because I was only half-Khayana, no one expected I'd need it. And for the first half of my life they were right.

"When I was younger I exhibited the expected intuitive abilities like my father had, albeit they were a little more developed. I was good at games - video games, board games, basically anything strategic," Liam nodded unconsciously, remembering a similar comment he'd made to Da'an nearly three years ago. Tuning back into her explanation, he heard her say, "--what I was doing when I first realized there was something wrong? I was sitting in class, listening to the teacher drone on about long-division, of all things!

"I was sitting there, staring at the board like a good little student, when I received my first _vision_." Jay shook her head and resumed her pacing. She hated dredging up these old memories, but once she started she couldn't stop. "Imaging me, nine years old, being bombarded with mental images and information of things I didn't understand, knowing it wasn't a memory because I'd never seen anything like it before. I remember falling back in my chair, screaming out, as I tried to make sense of what was going on in my head."

Jay's eyes went hard. "I remember the stares of the other children - of the _teacher_ - looking at me like I was a freak when I tried to explain that I had just watched my mother's car get T-boned by a van going over 80km/h, and how she was thrown from the vehicle."

Liam could only look at her in sympathy. "I'm sorry…."

Jay just nodded, knowing he meant what he said. "When my father heard about it, he was mad. At the time I thought he was mad at _me_, even thought I know better now - he was mad at his heritage, mad at whatever had caused me to inherit abilities I should never have had. He told me it was nothing, not wanting my mother to know about that aspect of his ancestors, and he kept denying it until, three weeks later, it actually happened. My mother was in the hospital for over a month, and during that time my father could barely stand to be in the same room as me. I was a reminder of an ancestry he didn't want to acknowledge…I was a reminder that if he had just _listened_ to me, we might have been able to avoid the accident." She gave a sad upturn of her lips. "Suffice it to say I learned early on to keep my mouth shut, and eventually things got back to normal - at least in the eyes of my father…as far as he knows, it was an isolated incident."

Liam thought for a moment. "So, you father…he doesn't know? You've kept it a secret from him?"

She nodded. "Hasn't been easy. Like I said, I was given texts, notes, and diaries of my grandmother by my friend's mother, Shanna, once she realized I was in fact 'gifted', as she put it. They're locked away in my room so my parents won't find them."

"Jay, I understand," Liam began, "I know what you're going through."

She looked up at him, frowning. "How could you possibly?" It wasn't an accusation, more of a question that needed answering…like she believed him, but wanted to be sure.

That stopped Liam for a moment. How could he possibly explain? For some reason he felt compelled to earn her trust, and she would probably know if he lied. He decided to tell her the most he could without giving much away - she would have to be content with that.

"I've had to hide my true nature from almost everyone around me, including my own parents. It's not the exact same, but it's close enough, at least from what you've told me."

He saw she was about to respond when suddenly her head fell forward slightly, and she brought her hand up to the bridge of her nose, as if she had a headache. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

She brought her hand away and he saw her looking at the road, but not seeing it; there was a look of concentration on her face, and she squinted as if trying to see something that was alluding her. After a moment her expression changed to one of acceptance (of what, Liam had no answer) and she looked up at him, her face set. "If that's so," she began, nodding to herself and sighing in what could only be unconscious relief, "Then you'll do."

This was followed by a moment of silence, and Liam's face wore a frown of confusion. But before he could ask what she meant by that cryptic statement, the sound of a car caused them to turn - a small, dark red vehicle was making its way towards them at a good clip.

"Neighbor?"

"No." He looked over to her and noticed a small grin playing at the corners of her mouth, indicating to him that she recognized the owner of the vehicle, and for some reason she wasn't concerned with Liam's presence.

The car reached them quickly and slowed to a halt; the driver turned off the engine and stepped out onto the road. To Liam he seemed no more than a teenager, approximately the same age as Jay, with short, dark brown hair. "Hey Jade," he called, walking towards the two, "What are you doing out here?" As he got closer Liam noticed the unusual gray hue to the kid's eyes.

She grinned at him and then turned to Liam. "Liam Kincaid, this is Chadden DeLuca. You know the woman, Shanna, I told you about? This is her son, my, uh, my best friend. Chad, this is Liam." She hesitated slightly before adding, for the benefit of the newcomer, "He's the one from last week's _episode_."

Chadden nodded in understanding. "Ah, right. The one from the future." 

At the expression of surprise and concern that crossed the older man's face, the younger turned to him and said, jovially, "Jade tells me everything when it comes to her _bizarreness_, as the men call it." Jay gave an exasperated sigh and elbowed him, while he suppressed a grin. "So I guess she's pulled you into the realm of the weird," he added, holding out his hand to Liam.

The Companion Protector took it, grinning - he liked this kid. "Well, I guess it was more of us dropping in, to put it literally." The kid chuckled at that. 

After a moment Jay turned to her friend. "So, what brings you to the middle of nowhere this time?" she mocked.

Chadden's face sobered as he turned to her. "Actually, there's something I have to talk to you about…."

Liam took the hint. "Don't mind me, it's about time I checked in with the others."

"I'll be there in a bit take you guys back to the house, if you need it," Jay told him. Liam nodded and turned to walk back the way they had come.

After Liam had walked a good distance away from them, Jay turned to her companion. At the serious expression on her face she asked, somewhat hesitantly, "What's up?"

Chadden took a deep breath. "I just got back from Crawford's office."

"And?" she prodded him, "What'd he say?"

"It looks, uh…" he worried at his bottom lip for a moment, taking her hand in both of his. "It looks like we might have to consider my mom's suggestion."

~

Several dozen yards away, Liam Kincaid strained his advanced hybrid hearing to the max. While he had reservations about essentially spying on her, being that he wanted to trust Jay as much as she seemed to want to trust him, something was holding him back, and he suspected it was something that had to do not just with Jay, but with this Chadden as well, and, more specifically, the two of them together. And so as he walked to where he and Jay had emerged from the tree line earlier, he listened.

~

Jay turned away and looked at the ground, slightly shocked and blinking rapidly, trying to process all that was going though her head. Taking a few deep breaths, she composed herself enough to look back at him. "You're sure? There's nothing…." He was shaking his head, no. She nodded slowly, she had been prepared for this…but that still didn't make it any easier. "How long do we have?"

Chadden shook his head again. "I don't know, but my mother thinks we should do this as soon as possible, just in case something goes wrong." She nodded and turned into him, and he embraced her. After a minute he thought he heard a sniffle, and pulled back…she hadn't begun to cry, but she looked as thought she were fighting back tears. "You'll be alright," he said softly.

She closed her eyes and nodded. Looking back at him, she confessed, "I don't…I don't know if I can do this…I don't know what to do."

"Don't worry," he began in a soothing voice, "My mom will take care of it." Lightly he added, as an afterthought, "Well, I guess it's actually Kallie who'll end up taking care of _it_." 

Jay gave him a sad grin. "Yeah, I guess she will." Chadden pulled her against him once more, and she willingly submitted herself to the embrace. 

~

Liam had walked as far as the limits of his Kimera-enhanced hearing would allow. The only way he could possibly listen more would be for him to stop and double-back, a move that would certainly be noticed - either they would see him or, if he moved beyond the tree line and tried to go back that way, they would hear him. 

But he didn't want to, not after what he'd heard. It sounded to him like an extremely personal matter, one which did not concern him. And while he still didn't not completely trust his host, as much as he felt he needed to, he did not want to spy on her any longer, at least when it did not help them. He imagined Sandoval wouldn't agree, believing it better to know _everything_ about their situation, but Liam had long ago stopped caring what his father approved of - for the most part.

And with that, he stepped further into the forest and back in the direction he had left the others, leaving the teens to their conversation.

~

The rustling of the trees in the wind and the small birds flitting around and calling to each other had served to calm them some. Finally breaking the silence, Chadden asked, "When do your parents get back?"

She pulled back. "Four days, I think…they're going to phone later. But I don't know when my _guests_ will be leaving. If they're gone before that time, we can do it this week."

He nodded. "And, if they're not…."

"If they're not, then we'll have to find another time. I can't reveal that much to them, and I won't do it when my parents are around."

"I guess if we have to wait, then you could stay with Kallie for a weekend." 

She nodded in agreement. "I'll call Shanna as soon as I know when I can do it." 

He watched as she looked off to the ground and frowned, like she was concentrating. "Jade, what's wrong?"

She shook her head, still looking at the ground. "Nothing…but I've been trying to remember. It's hard, there was so much this time…. I want to know how it fits in to them."

"Liam?"

"Yeah, and the others with him."

A curious frown crossed his features. "Did you see something that…had to do with…" he gestured between the two of them. She nodded. "Can you tell me?"

Jay looked up at him with a mixture of sadness, apology, and conviction written on her face. "Ah," he answered his own question, understanding, "I guess it doesn't make a difference if I know."

"Chad, I'm sorry, but--" she began.

"It's okay," he interrupted. "I know…what you've seen shouldn't be discussed unless it's necessary. And as much as I'd like to feel that I'm 'need-to-know', I guess we both know that you telling me cannot make a difference, in the long run."

"I'm sorry…." she said, remembering the reason why he didn't need to know.

"It's okay," he assured. "But, if you need to, you can tell me, you know that." She nodded and gave him a gratuitous smile.

A moment of awkward silence followed, and Chadden looked at his watch. "I'd better get going." She nodded and followed him the short distance to his car.

Suddenly, without warning, he stumbled into to the side of the hood, using his hands to brace himself so he wouldn't fall to the ground. 

"Chad! Are you all right?" Jay asked, concern written all over her face.

He turned around, leaning back against the car, and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine…just a little dizzy, you know the drill."

She wrapped an arm around his middle to help him regain his balance. "Maybe you shouldn't be driving if--"

"Jaden, I'm fine," he cut her off. He tested his footing and pulled away from her, all indications that he had experienced distress - save for his slightly labored breathing - were gone. "See? Nothing to worry about, I'm used to it, and I know my limits."

She looked at him for a long moment before acquiescing. "Fine…but call me, okay? I don't want anything to happen."

"Don't worry. I can't endanger the project now, can I?" he joked. Seeing the look she gave him, he sobered. "I will, I promise."

Jay leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his in a soft kiss. "Be careful." Chadden gave a gentle smile and nodded before pulling away and turning back to the car, climbing into the driver's seat. She watched as he turned the car around and drove off, her brain already working on the meaning of his visit and the people in the nearby forest she now had to see to.

And how it would all fit together.

~~~

TBC

~~~

I admit, it does seem like I went a little overboard with my original characters. However, this was very necessary to the development of the story, and will play a major part in things to come….


	15. Threshold

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, not even the words. Only the order in which they were placed. That said, I own (the majority of) the plot, and any and all original characters not otherwise specified.

Sorry it took so long for me to get the next part out. I will honestly try to spend more time and get the next parts out sooner than what has become the norm. Reviews aren't necessary for my continuation on this fic, but they help - the more I know people are reading and enjoying this story (if at all), the more motivated I will be to work on it. 

Thank you, and enjoy.

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CHAPTER 14

More than five hours later, all six found themselves back at the house. Jay had gone to put her limited cooking skills to the test in the kitchen, while the others retook their positions in the living room to discuss what they had learned. 

"So basically," Renee was saying, frowning at Liam's global screen, "That weapon, whatever it was, ripped a tear in the ID wormhole, and it acted as a vacuum, pulling us through?"

"Yes," Zo'or answered curtly, slightly irritated at the humans' inferior intellect.

"We have experienced this phenomenon only once before, in our entire history of inter-dimensional travel," Da'an supplied by way of explanation, more patient than his fellow Taelon. "Several hundred years ago, the _Mehth'rah _class cruiser, the _Shah'lahyu,_ engaged a formidable Jaridian battleship. When it became apparent that they would be defeated, the _Shah'lahyu_ attempted to escape via an inter-dimensional corridor, but the Jaridians followed. 

"The _Shah'lahyu_ had maintained open communications with a nearby ship during the incident, and so all data recorded during this time was saved and has been studied. There was an explosion onboard the Jaridian ship mid-flight, for reasons still unknown. From the data retained, scientists have deduced that the explosion caused a rip in the constituents of the wormhole, and pulled both the _Shah'lahyu _and the remnants of the Jaridian ship through the tear. Data continued to be broadcast to our ship until the moment the _Shah'lahyu _crossed the threshold; after that, nothing was received."

The three humans, who had been listening with rapt attention, were quiet for several long moments. Finally, Sandoval broke the silence. "What happened to the _Shah'lahyu_?"

Zo'or straightened up in his chair. "It was never heard from," he replied tersely, his voice strained; he was trying to control his apprehension.

"That is correct," Da'an began, "Neither the ship nor the Jaridian wreckage was heard from again. We had assumed both had been destroyed in the cross-over."

"But now," Liam looked at him, "You might have another answer. What happened to us could have happened to them." He paused for a moment before asking, "Da'an, did the recordings from the _Shah'lahyu_ show anything anomalous? Besides the tear in the wormhole?"

Da'an thought for a moment. "If you are referring to our current temporal situation, no. The Taelon analysts who studied the incident came to the conclusion that the _Shah'lahyu_, based on the data provided, simply ceased to exist. However…" he started, his voice taking on a more meaningful tone.

Liam picked up his train of thought. "However, absence of proof is not proof of absence."

"To borrow from the human term," the Taelon affirmed.

Zo'or, irritation growing at the apparently irrelevance of the conversation to themselves personally, spoke out, "While this _discovery_ is fascinating, it is in no way aiding us in determining a way to return to our own time. The _Shah'lahyu_, whether it encountered a similar situation or not, was never heard from again. I do not intend to share the same fate."

Renee nodded subconsciously. "While I hate to agree, he's right. Was there anything in the shuttle's databanks that can help us?"

"That's where this little bit of information comes in," Liam explained, holding out his hand to Renee, still looking in the direction of the two Taelons. Without thinking, she handed him the global. He hit a few commands, and said aloud what his brain was acknowledging from the printout on the screen. 

"The tear," he began, pausing to make sure he had their attention, "Is still open."

~

Jay, lacking both superior cooking skills and enough groceries, had settled on making soup for her guests, that being the one commodity her parents seemed to keep in stock. She was pouring broth into a second pot when suddenly she jerked forward, eyes squeezing shut. Broth spilled onto the stove and into one of the burners with a sizzle.

It lasted only a second, and then she regained her composure, taking in a deep breath. The vision had been quick, and would in most instances have made absolutely no sense to her. But when Jay remembered what had happen earlier that day on the road, the decision she'd made (or rather, that had really been made for her), it all began to fit together.

Eyes wide, she slowly turned her head around so she could look out the kitchen door, into the hallway. She couldn't actually see the others in the living room from her angle, but she stared in their direction anyway, imagining the five beings conversing through the walls.

Ten years from now, things would be very different…especially for two people in that room.

~

"What are you talking about, Major?" Sandoval spoke out, turning from the window to look the other man in the face. 

"What I mean," Liam answered, "Is that the rift we somehow traveled through is closing, but at a relatively slow rate. It may still be large enough for the shuttle to get back through."

"Major Kincaid." Zo'or held out is palm; it was not a request. Liam handed him the global without question.

As Da'an joined Zo'or and both aliens looked over the data displayed on the screen, Renee looked to Liam. "What does 'relatively slow' mean? You said it's closing. Do we have days or weeks, or…?" she trailed off at the shake of his head.

Liam sighed. "We have _a_ day, at most. Hours, more than likely." He looked to the two Taelons for confirmation.

Zo'or kept his attention on the global screen, while Da'an looked up to answer. "You are correct, Major. It appears that we have exactly twenty-seven hours and thirty-one minutes until the rift has sealed completely."

Sandoval looked at his watch, doing mental calculations. "That puts us just before eight-thirty tomorrow night." The rest of the group silently confirmed, their concentration elsewhere. 

"So what? We just have to cross through, or…why do I get the idea there's something else?" Renee asked, suspicious. They were all too quiet.

"Well," Liam began, "We don't have the full amount of time, we still need to be able to fit through the tear." 

Renee nodded. "And?"

"And…the tear is over a kilometer in the air."

Renee's curse came out as a sigh. "Which means we need the shuttle, no choice. Wonderful."

Sandoval, none too pleased with the problem himself, asked, "How long before the shuttle is no longer able to make it through the rift?"

Da'an was about to provide the answer when Zo'or spoke up, his voice tighter than normal. "If the rift continues to close at a uniform rate, then we have nineteen hours and five minutes."

"After eleven fifty-seven tomorrow morning, the shuttle will not be able to cross the rift," Da'an supplied.

Liam hung his head, sighing. Renee's eyes went wide from shock and just the smallest bit of fear. Sandoval managed to keep the mask of indifference from slipping too much, and turned back to look out the window; the sun was still relatively high in the western sky, but it was slowly making it's way lower in the horizon.

The stretched silence was finally broken when Jay walked into the room from the hallway, the small black dog following at her heels. "Okay, your, what I hesitate to call 'dinner', is ready." She stopped short when she noticed the expressions on their faces. 

"O-kay…cheerful!" she said in her sarcastic way, leaning against the doorframe. This earned her a few exasperated stares. More to herself, she mumbled, "Right, okay. Maybe I'll just let it stay warm for a while." Quietly, she made her way across the room and sat down in a chair, her hand reaching down to absently stroke the dog's fur as he sat on the floor beside the chair. "What's up?"

After a brief argument, her guests decided to give Jay and abridged version of their predicament, just enough to let her know what was going on.

"Can you fix your shuttle?" she asked when they had finished.

Liam shot a glance at the two Taelons, they being the most knowledgeable in the technology. At their drawn expressions, his hopes were not soaring too high. "We don't know," he began. "Probably, given enough time, which we obviously don't have. But we're not even sure what exactly the problem is, only that the engine itself is non-responsive. Meanwhile, the other systems are fine."

"We will return shortly to attempt further progress," Zo'or stated, standing up; it was not a suggestion. The others had no choice but to agree.

Jay sighed. "Alright, but let us eat something first, we haven't had anything since this morning." She started to get up.

Zo'or inclined his head, his only indication of aspiration. "Very well. However, you," he fixed his gaze on the teen, "Will not be joining us this time." At Jay's raised eyebrow, he added, "Agent Sandoval will remain here to ensure your compliance."

Sandoval looked none too pleased at his new assignment, but knew better than to contest Zo'or's will. Jay, on the other hand, had no such problem. Crossing her arms in front of her, she spoke, "This is _my_ house, my _time._ I'm not taking orders from you."

Zo'or's stance did not change. "You have said yourself that you endanger your timeline by being exposed to ours more than necessary. You have already shown us a faster route to the shuttle. Therefore, your assistance in this matter is no longer required, and there is no reason for you to accompany us."

The hard expression on Jay's face looked as though it has been carved of ice. "Fine. Then take your lackey with you." Out of the corner of her eye she caught the daggered glare Sandoval sent her way. Apparently, the feelings of loathing were distrust were mutual.

Zo'or's face displayed as much amusement as any Taelon possibly could. It has been some time since a human had openly attempted to defy him, he welcomed the change in routine. "We cannot trust you, or your version of history. Major Kincaid has informed me that another of your people is aware of our location, and while he has stressed that he does not believe you or this other pose a risk to our safety, I do not share those same sentiments."

Da'an, noticing the girl's tense posture and tight jaw, was afraid what would happen if she angered Zo'or any further - his child, in frustration, was known to act irrationally, and as much as the Synod leader might deny it, they needed the assistance of this young human. Before the girl could say anything in response, the older Taelon calmly interjected.

"You have stated that you wish to help us, but it does not appear that you can aid us in this matter. It is true that you do not have our _complete_ trust, however, " he glanced quickly to his fellow Taelon, and then back to her, "It is being built. If you agree to remain here with Agent Sandoval, we would be further assured of your sincerity."

Jay knew she wasn't going to win this one, not without destroying what progress she had made, and that was simply not an option. "Fine," she agreed, defeated. Without moving her head, she slid her eyes to Sandoval, who was looking the other way. She wasn't afraid of him, but she still didn't want to be left behind with him. She didn't know what it was, but instinctively she knew she had to be careful around him, watch what further information she divulged in his presence. 

Renee hadn't been oblivious to Jay's reaction after conceding to stay behind with Sandoval. She couldn't blame her - one didn't need to know the man's true nature to feel uncomfortable around him, he just had that effect on people.

"You know, I should probably stay behind as well." At everyone's questioning looks, Renee clarified, "That shuttle's pretty cramped, and as it is I'd only be in the way." She allowed the slightest of glances in the younger woman's direction before continuing on. "If I stay here, I might be able to do more."

"Such as?" came Zo'or's condescending voice. 

It sounded to Renee that he really didn't want her to stay. _Probably had more direct motives for wanting his loyal pet to stay behind,_ she thought.

"Maybe I can take another look at the shuttle's data, come up with an alternative if you can't get it to work. All I need is an download, I can do it from here." At the disbelieving expression on the Synod leader's face, she continued before he could speak against the idea. "I'm not saying it'll work, but it's a better use of our limited time than having me standing around in the woods, watching you work. And besides," she couldn't help adding, "With Sandoval here, maybe he can help."

Da'an turned to Zo'or. "Ms. Palmer states a valid point."

Zo'or attempted to control his voice as he answered, "So she has. Very well." With that, he stalked off to the adjoining room where they had left the various articles and equipment brought back from the crash site earlier, Da'an and Sandoval followed.

When the others were out of earshot, Jay turned to Renee and said, rather defensively, "I didn't need your help." Renee raised her brows, but before she could say anything, the girl quickly added, "But…thanks." Renee nodded in acknowledgement, and the teen went and sat back down.

Liam had been hanging back, and Renee walked over to him. "Good luck. I don't think any of us want to spend the rest of our lives stuck ten years behind everyone else."

"Be careful."

She grinned. "Oh, please. Piece of cake." At Liam's stare, she sobered. "I'll be fine."

Liam began to lean into her, when both realized they weren't alone. Glancing across the room, they looked, somewhat embarrassed, at their host. Jay hadn't actually been paying them any interest, but noticed when she became the center of attention.

"Don't mind me," she fought back a laugh, nonchalantly glancing the other way, out the window.

Still self-conscious, Liam simply cupped Renee's face gently for a few seconds, locking eyes with her. Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, Sandoval had started to return to find out what was keeping his fellow Companion Protector when he caught sight of the scene. As Liam started to turn, the Agent ducked back into the other room, unnoticed. Liam silently left to join the others.

On the far side of the room, her back to the entire scene, but knowing enough to recognize what was going on, Jay watched the trees through the window, swaying slightly in the evening breeze. A slow grin spread across her face as she thought on the scene only moments before. _Well, my visions of the future have never been wrong before, I guess that still holds true now._

~~~

TBC

~~~


End file.
